For years, fitness trackers have nudged us toward the familiar goal of 10,000 steps per day. It’s a simple benchmark, easy to remember and measure. But while step counts offer a rough estimate of our daily activity, they leave out something critical: how hard we’re actually working. Walking 10,000 steps slowly is not the same as hiking uphill or running those same steps. That’s where MET scores come in.
Today, digital health is moving toward more meaningful metrics that capture the intensity, duration, and frequency of physical activity. Instead of just counting steps, modern wearables and health platforms now track how much energy we use. At the center of this change is the Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET), a global standard for measuring physical activity.
A MET score measures the energy cost of physical activities. One MET is the energy you burn while sitting quietly, which is about 1 kcal/kg/h. This is your body’s resting metabolic rate. From this starting point, MET scores increase depending on how hard your body works during any activity.
Here are some common examples:
These numbers help show not just what you’re doing, but also how much effort it takes. METs are widely used in clinical and research settings to assess fitness, track recovery after injury or illness, and even predict the risk of chronic disease. In short, METs give a fuller picture of physical effort than step counts alone.
While MET scores capture energy intensity, they become even more powerful when combined with duration and frequency. This gives greater attention to the concept of MET-minutes, or, more broadly, to a Physical Activity Index (PAI). MET-minutes are calculated by multiplying the MET score of an activity by the number of minutes it’s performed. For example, a 30-minute jog at 7 METs yields 210 MET-minutes.
Health authorities such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that adults aim for 600 to 1,200 MET-minutes each week. You can reach this goal by combining moderate and vigorous activities over several days. Many modern wearables now calculate MET-minutes or similar indexes automatically. By tracking heart rate, movement, and cadence, these devices give users a real-time view of their activity intensity and encourage more personalized fitness routines.
When MET data is harmonized and validated, it becomes a powerful tool for gaining useful health insights.
Thryve’s infrastructure supports these capabilities by enabling:
By turning raw motion into structured, intelligent data, we help our partners drive measurable health outcomes. For instance, hospitals using Thryve's technology have seen a reduction in patient readmissions by tracking and adapting personalized activity plans. Similarly, corporate wellness programs report improved employee engagement and reduced healthcare costs by utilizing our detailed activity insights to tailor fitness challenges and incentives.
MET scores are powerful, but they do have some limitations, especially when it comes to measuring accuracy.
These challenges show why harmonization, calibration, and validation are important. Thryve invests heavily in these areas to provide reliable and comparable metrics for all users.
As physical activity becomes a cornerstone of preventive medicine, MET and PAI scores are becoming valuable tools for:
Healthcare Providers
Clinicians use MET data to monitor rehabilitation progress, assess cardiovascular health, and detect early signs of sedentary behavior. For patients recovering from surgery or managing chronic conditions, tracking MET levels helps fine-tune activity recommendations and measure adherence.
Health Insurers
Payers are beginning to integrate activity-based metrics into preventive health programs, offering engagement rewards or premium reductions for active lifestyles. MET data provides a more nuanced foundation than step counts, making incentive models fairer and more tailored.
Digital Health Platforms
MET scores support the development of behavior change models, enabling platforms to nudge users toward healthier routines based on real-world data. Over time, these platforms can personalize coaching, track trends, and offer predictive insights that improve health outcomes. For more information on health incentives that affect users’ behavior, check our blog post here!
Across all use cases, consistent tracking of MET data empowers better decision-making, personalization, and population health management.
Counting steps was a good place to start, but it no longer gives the full picture. Today, with a focus on precision health, preventive care, and digital engagement, METs and the Physical Activity Index provide a better and more complete way to understand our activity levels. They reveal not just whether we moved, but how intensely, how often, and for how long. For individuals, that means a clearer picture of health. For our partners, from clinics to insurers, it means new ways to influence behavior, manage risk, and deliver better outcomes.
At Thryve, we help move fragmented activity data into actionable health insights with our API, which can calculate MET values with contextual awareness. Whether a user is hiking outdoors or cycling indoors, Thryve ensures the resulting MET score reflects the true intensity of the activity. We offer:
Ready to see how Thryve turns raw movement data into clinically meaningful, scalable insights?
Book a demo and discover how harmonized MET scoring can elevate your health solutions!
Friedrich Lämmel is CEO of Thryve, the plug & play API to access and understand 24/7 health data from wearables and medical trackers. Prior to Thryve, he built eCommerce platforms with billions of turnover and worked and lived in several countries in Europe and beyond.
