What is the IPAQ short form?

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form is a seven-item measure of physical activity over the last 7 days, developed by an international group in the late 1990s and validated across 12 countries. It asks about days and minutes of vigorous activity, moderate activity and walking, plus time spent sitting. The answers are converted to MET-minutes per week and a category of low, moderate or high activity. It is free to use.

What do MET-minutes mean?

A MET is a multiple of resting energy expenditure. The IPAQ assigns walking 3.3 METs, moderate activity 4 METs and vigorous activity 8 METs, and multiplies each by the minutes per day and days per week. A total of 600 MET-minutes a week corresponds roughly to the public-health guideline of 150 minutes of moderate activity.

Is a low IPAQ category a bad result if I have a post-viral condition?

Not in itself. The categories were built for the general population. In ME/CFS, POTS and long COVID with post-exertional malaise, the safe level of activity is whatever does not trigger a crash, and the low category is where many people need to be. The value of the questionnaire is as a record over time and as an honest account of activity for a clinician, including sitting time, which the other measures ignore.

Tools

IPAQ short form

Last reviewed 16 October 2026

Seven questions about the last 7 days, scored in MET-minutes per week

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire was developed in the late 1990s by a group of researchers convened by the World Health Organization, to give a comparable measure of physical activity across countries. The short form asks about the last 7 days: how many days and how long you did vigorous activity, moderate activity and walking, and how long you spent sitting on a weekday. It was validated in 12 countries and is one of the most used physical activity questionnaires in research. Its scoring converts your answers to MET-minutes per week and a category of low, moderate or high.

For post-viral conditions the IPAQ has two things going for it. It counts walking and everyday effort rather than only exercise, which is where most of a limited energy budget goes. And it records sitting time, which nothing else on this site does. It is offered here as a record, not a target: the categories were built for healthy adults, and in a condition with post-exertional malaise the low category is often the right place to be. What the score is good for is watching your own trend, and giving a clinician an honest account of your activity level instead of a guess. The Godin-Shephard questionnaire is a one-minute alternative that counts only leisure exercise.

Think about all the activities you did in the last 7 days: at work, at home, travelling from place to place, and in your spare time for recreation, exercise or sport. Only count activities you did for at least 10 minutes at a time. Enter 0 days if you did none of that kind.

Vigorous physical activities

Vigorous activities take hard physical effort and make you breathe much harder than normal. Only count activities you did for at least 10 minutes at a time.

1. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do vigorous physical activities like heavy lifting, digging, aerobics, or fast bicycling?

days per week

2. How much time did you usually spend doing vigorous physical activities on one of those days?

hours minutes per day

Moderate physical activities

Moderate activities take moderate physical effort and make you breathe somewhat harder than normal. Only count activities you did for at least 10 minutes at a time.

3. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do moderate physical activities like carrying light loads, bicycling at a regular pace, or doubles tennis? Do not include walking.

days per week

4. How much time did you usually spend doing moderate physical activities on one of those days?

hours minutes per day

Walking

Include walking at work and at home, walking to travel from place to place, and any other walking done solely for recreation, sport, exercise or leisure.

5. During the last 7 days, on how many days did you walk for at least 10 minutes at a time?

days per week

6. How much time did you usually spend walking on one of those days?

hours minutes per day

Sitting

Include time spent sitting at a desk, visiting friends, reading, or sitting or lying down to watch television. Do not include time asleep.

7. During the last 7 days, how much time did you spend sitting on a week day?

hours minutes per day

Your IPAQ result

— MET-minutes per week

Understanding your result

Each kind of activity is converted to MET-minutes: minutes per day, multiplied by days per week, multiplied by an intensity weight of 3.3 for walking, 4.0 for moderate activity and 8.0 for vigorous activity. The three are added to give a weekly total. Following the IPAQ scoring guidelines, any activity under 10 minutes a day is treated as 0, and each activity is capped at 180 minutes a day before scoring, so a single very long day does not swamp the week.

The categories are: high, meaning vigorous activity on at least 3 days reaching 1500 MET-minutes, or any combination on all 7 days reaching 3000 MET-minutes; moderate, meaning vigorous activity of at least 20 minutes on 3 or more days, or moderate activity or walking of at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days, or any combination on 5 or more days reaching 600 MET-minutes; and low for everything else. The 600 figure corresponds roughly to the 150-minutes-a-week public-health guideline.

Those categories were designed for healthy populations. In ME/CFS, POTS or long COVID with post-exertional malaise, a low category is frequently the correct and safe level, and pushing toward "moderate" is how many people crash. Read the number as a description of last week, compare it with your own earlier weeks, and set it next to how you felt afterwards. Sitting time is reported separately and is not part of the activity score; in orthostatic conditions, time spent sitting or lying is often a deliberate management choice.

This is not an exercise prescription. If you are considering changing your activity level, start with the readiness screen and the pacing guide, and let your clinician's advice outrank any questionnaire.

Symptom scores change slowly. A monthly retake is enough to see a trend.

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IPAQ short form

Your IPAQ result

Understanding your result

Your results over time

Shared results (not saved on this device)