Perceived exertion and energy expenditure during physical activities in healthy young people and older adults

Aim: To test the validity of Borg’s 6–20 rating of perceived exertion scale in assessing the exertion intensity over a multi-activity session in young and older adults.Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study included 56 healthy participants. All participants underwent a single session of activities including working on a computer, treadmill walking, biking, and treadmill running.Results: Results showed a non-significant correlation between the overall perceived exertion and energy expenditure in young people (Rho=−0.05, p=0.75) and in older adults (Rho=−0.05, p=0.78) for the whole session. However, results showed that older adults perceived significantly higher exertion compared to young people while working on a computer, walking and running, whereas they presented lower energy expenditure while resting and working on a computer.Conclusions: Combining the perceived exertion method with other commonly used methods to estimate exercise intensity would be recommended for older adults.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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