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RECOMMENDATIONS

The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that adults get 30 to 60 minutes a day, most days of the week. Children should be active 60 to 90 minutes a day, most days of the week. Try to fit physical activity throughout your day - walk to work, take an activity break at lunch or go for an after dinner run.

Here are some tips to test the intensity of your activity. Know your limits but be willing to challenge yourself once and awhile.

The talk test

Physical activity can add years to your life, and life to your years. The talk test method of measuring intensity is simple. A person who is active at a light intensity level should be able to sing while doing the activity. One who is active at a moderate intensity level should be able to carry on a conversation comfortably while engaging in the activity. If a person becomes winded or too out of breath to carry on a conversation, the activity can be considered vigorous.

Light-Intensity Activities:

  • Walking slowly
  • Golf, powered cart
  • Swimming, slow treading
  • Gardening or pruning
  • Bicycling, very light effort
  • Dusting or vacuuming
  • Conditioning exercise, light stretching or warm up

Moderate-Intensity Activities:

  • Walking briskly
  • Golf, pulling or carrying clubs
  • Swimming, recreational
  • Mowing lawn, power motor
  • Tennis, doubles
  • Bicycling 5 to 9 mph, level terrain, or with a few hills
  • Scrubbing floors or washing windows
  • Weight lifting, Nautilus machines or free weights

Vigorous-Intensity Activities:

  • Racewalking, jogging or running
  • Swimming laps
  • Mowing lawn, hand mower
  • Tennis, singles
  • Bicycling more than 10 mph, or on steep uphill terrain
  • Moving or pushing furniture
  • Circuit training

Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living

Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living is a guide to help you make wise choices about physical activity. Choices that will improve your health, help prevent disease, and allow you to get the most out of life.

You will gain significant health benefits just by adding physical activity to your daily routine. Your benefits will increase as you add more activities to your day. The best news of all is that physical activity doesn't have to be very hard to improve your health! Check out the guide for tips on choosing an activity that's right for you.

Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) worked in partnership to develop Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living.