Test your Heart Health at Home

The following advice on testing your heart health comes with the standard warning. Be careful. If you experience any pain or discomfort, stop immediately and contact your doctor.

What are METs?

If you have ever wondered what does METs mean when exercising on a treadmill you are not alone.

MET or Metabolic Equivalent are commonly used during an exercise stress test. It is the rate of energy expended per unit of time, another way of describing exercise intensity. One MET is the energy you burn resting, the same as your resting metabolic rate, if you exercise at 5 METs it means you are burning 5 times the energy of sitting still.  METs are often used to measure intensity when heart rate isn’t a reliable measure.

METS measure calories burned over time and one MET is the equivalent of 3.5 millilitres of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute. Your muscle cells use oxygen to create energy. Researchers have assigned MET values to activities, like doing housework and the speed or incline on a treadmill, based on the mysterious 70 kg person (man) that all formulas are based on. A MET is one way to measure the energy used during the activity. The higher the METs the more energy your muscles use for that activity.

METs of Common Activities
15 METs Cross Country Skiing (>8.0 mph)
9-10 METs Running at 6 mph (10-minute mile)
3.5 METs Walking for exercise
2.5 METs Yoga
1.0 METs At rest, watching tv, reading

A Stress Test for the Rest of Us

While having a stress test in a medically supervised setting can be necessary for those with heart issues currently, it can be risky. If you are otherwise healthy you can test your heart health without a treadmill or a heart rate monitor. All you need are 60 stairs and a watch.

METs vs Stairs

Researchers in Spain recently published a study comparing MET results from an exercise stress test and a stair-climbing test. 165 people walked or ran on a treadmill, increasing the intensity to exhaustion. Their exercise capacity was measured using METs and then they were asked to climb 4 flights (60 stairs) at a fast pace without running or stopping. The researchers compared METs with the time it took to climb 60 stairs without stopping.

Achieving 9-10 METs during the stress test means your risk of death from heart disease is very low, about 1% per year or 10% over the next 10 years. This corresponded to climbing 60 stairs in 40-45 seconds. People who took longer than 90 seconds to complete the stair climb exercised to less than 8 METs in the stress test and which translates to a 30% mortality rate over 10 years.

This is a simple and inexpensive way to test your heart health. 

The study’s author, Dr. Jesús Peteiro, a cardiologist at University Hospital A Coruña, Spain, says,

“If it takes you more than one-and-a-half minutes to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal, and it would be a good idea to consult a doctor.”

European Society of Cardiology. (2020, December 11).

Fitness Improves Longevity

The good news is that you can improve your heart health with exercise and a healthy diet, but it is important to make sure you don’t have other complications. Dr. Peteiro believes that the correlation between the time to climb stairs and exercise capacity measured in METs would be similar in the general population as it was in his study. In another study with more than 12,000 participants with coronary artery disease each MET achieved was associated with a 9% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and he states,

 “Our results provide further evidence of the benefits of exercise and being fit on health and longevity. “If you can walk fast up four floors without stopping, you have good functional capacity. If not, it’s a good indication that you need more exercise.”

European Society of Cardiology. (2018, December 6)

If you try this at home do an easy warm-up and don’t overdo it. If you need to stop that is another indication that you should talk to your doctor about your fitness and health. Be cautious – but don’t panic if you need to stop. I have worked with many people with cardiac issues and post open-heart surgery, you won’t have to stop being active, but you may have to modify your activity, which is preferable to the alternative.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla