met·a·bol·ic e·quiv·a·lent (MET),

the oxygen cost of energy expenditure measured at supine rest (1 MET = 3.5 mL O₂ per kg of body weight per minute); multiples of MET are used to estimate the oxygen cost of activity, for example, 3-5 METs for light work; more than 9 METs for heavy work.

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

MET

Physiology
A metabolic unit used to quantify the intensity of physical activity, which is defined as the ratio of the metabolic rate during exercise to the metabolic rate at rest. One MET corresponds to an energy expenditure of approximately 1 kca1Jkg of body weight/hour, or an oxygen uptake of 3.5 ml of O2 consumption/kg/hour. The MET unit is of use when planning the rehabilitation of patients who have had a myocardial infarction.

Metabolic Equivalents
1—Sleeping, reclining.
2—Sitting (e.g., desk work, highway driving).
3—Very light exertion (e.g., office work, city driving).
4—Light exertion, normal breathing (e.g., slow walking, mopping, golfing with a cart).
5—Moderate exertion with deep breathing (e.g., normal walking, golfing on foot, callisthenics, raking leaves, downhill skiing, hunting, fishing, slow dancing, interior painting).
6—Vigourous exertion with panting, overheating (e.g., slow jogging, speed-walking, tennis, swimming, cross-country skiing, fast biking, shovelling snow, heavy restaurant work, laying bricks, heavy gardening, heavy household repairs).
7—Heavy exertion with gasping and sweating (e.g., fast jogging, running, continuous racquetball, touch football, moving heavy rocks, mixing cement, using a jackhammer, shovelling deep or heavy snow, hanging drywall).
8—Peak or extreme exertion (e.g., fast running, jogging uphill, aggressive sports with no rest, extreme work, pushing or pulling with one’s entire strength).

met·a·bol·ic equiv·a·lent

(MET) (met'ă-bol'ik ē-kwiv'ă-lĕnt)

The oxygen cost of energy expenditure measured at supine rest (1 MET = 3.5 mL O₂ per kg of body weight per minute); multiples of MET are used to estimate the oxygen cost of activity.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

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References in periodicals archive

Exercise Parameter Start Week 2 Treadmill Velocity (% of 72 [+ or -] 13 86 [+ or -] 17 comfortable walk speed) Workload (% of pretraining 41 [+ or -] 5 50 [+ or -] 9 estimated maximal METs) MET = metabolic equivalent. Exercise Parameter Week 4 Week 6 Treadmill Velocity (% of 98 [+ or -] 8 100 [+ or -] 16 comfortable walk speed) Workload (% of pretraining 60 [+ or -] 13 64 [+ or -] 14 estimated maximal METs) MET = metabolic equivalent.

Pilot safety and feasibility study of treadmill aerobic exercise in Parkinson disease with gait impairment

Measurements: physical activity was evaluated by the Questionnaire d'Activite Physique Saint-Etienne and expressed by three indices: mean habitual daily energy expenditure (MHDEE), daily energy expenditure (DEE) [comprising activities with intensities corresponding to at least three metabolic equivalents (MET; 3.5 ml [multiplied by] [kg.sup.1] [multiplied by] [min.sup.1] of oxygen consumption)] and sport activity.

Physical activity and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, insulin-like growth factor I and testosterone in healthy active elderly people

"After adjusting for age, race, weight, PSA score, family history of the disease, and other variables, investigators found that men who reported more hours per week of exercise [9 or more metabolic equivalent task hours per week] were significantly less likely to have cancer on biopsy (OR 0.35, CI 0.17-0.75, p = 0.007)," according to a Duke University press release.

Physical activity and the prostate

* PA less than 7.5 metabolic equivalent (MET) hours per week (less than 150 minutes, or about 20 minutes daily);

Physical activity for weight loss: how much, how intense? If you're overweight, you need to be more active than the guidelines specify; but weight loss is achievable if you also cut calories

This corresponds to a gain of nearly 1 metabolic equivalent. When maintained long-term, an increase of this magnitude has been shown to confer a 14%-15% reduction in all-cause mortality, Dr.

Using stairs at work cuts cardiovascular risk

Physical activity was measured according to metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours per week.

Activity helps reduce death following breast cancer diagnosis

Activities and their intensity (metabolic equivalent in brackets; resting rate is 1, above 3 is required): Ironing - light (2.3).

Weekend: When the mind's willing but the body isn't; It has been a long time coming, but Chief Feature Writer Paul Groves has finally realised it is time to get fit again

Self-reported vigorous exercise in metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours per week (exposures) all cause mortality (primary outcome).

Exercise reduces risk of death among select cancer survivors

The researchers measured the women's energy expenditure using the Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET), a value calculated using the women's self-reports of their walking frequency, duration, and speed.

Postmenopausal women: Walk briskly to cut heart failure risk

To live longer, healthier lives "may require us to count the total number of hours we are sedentary per day, the total number of minutes we sit at a time, the total number of standing breaks we take per hour, the total number of steps we take per day, and the total metabolic equivalent of task-minute volume of exercise we achieve per week," he wrote.

Get up at least once every 30 minutes

Recall that MET stands for metabolic equivalent, and refers to a factor of one's resting metabolic rate (see Counting Calories in the Oct/Nov issue).

Crosstraining report: snowshoeing

Any physical activity can be evaluated by the metabolic consumption of the body during its execution, being known as Metabolic Equivalent of the Task (MET), which is the oxygen consumption of approximately 3.5 mL x [kg.sup.-1] x [min.sup.-1] or 1 kcal x [kg.sup.-1] x [h.sup.-1], under basal conditions corresponding to 1 MET.

Energy Expenditure of Healthy Young Men in a Postural Corrective Training (TCP[R])