What is AQ?
The new standard for measuring the effects of physical activity
What is AQ?
AQ is an advanced yet highly user-friendly point system that rewards you for any physical activity that raises your heart rate above a certain level. Your unique AQ tells you how much your health improves from the physical activity you engage in.
AQ is developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Mia Health. The algorithm is based on data from more than one million women and men, drawing on data that spans many decades.
Our claim is that the world has never before seen a more accurate measure of the health benefits of physical activity.
What does AQ measure?
AQ evaluates the health benefits of endurance activities that involve large muscle groups —like walking, running, cycling, and swimming—making you breathe fast and sweat.
The health benefits of endurance activities are influenced by their frequency, duration, and intensity. AQ quantifies your effort in these activities into a dynamic number, reflecting your activity habits.
AQ offers a weekly snapshot of your training effectiveness, guiding you on long-term health improvement and maintenance without directly reflecting your current health status. When paired with your continuously tracked fitness age in the Mia Health app, AQ simplifies understanding the benefits of your activities.
How do you measure AQ?
AQ doesn't care about how many steps you take, how fast you move from A to B, or whether you're active every day.
AQ only focuses on your personal heart rate curves from the past seven days. This is because your heart rate is the best indicator of how hard you're working during an endurance activity.
AQ is for everyone
Since AQ is driven by heart rate and effort, it serves as an equally accurate measure of health benefits whether you're fit or out of shape. If you and a friend put in the same effort during an activity, you will both be rewarded with roughly the same AQ, even if the fitter one of you ran more kilometers and maintained a higher speed.
AQ is perfectly tailored to your physical condition. By maintaining a certain AQ over time, your body and fitness age will gradually adapt to your activity level.
Understanding your AQ
What AQ does is convert your heart rate into a score that gives you a clear overview of how healthy your training has been over the past week, regardless of how many kilometers you've covered or how many minutes you've spent being active.
Your AQ can range from 0 to well over 100, depending on how active you've been.
0 AQ
With an AQ of 0, you haven't engaged in endurance activities that have provided a significant health benefit in the past seven days.
50 AQ
By maintaining an AQ of 50 over time, you've done more than average and laid the foundation for good health.
100 AQ or higher
To achieve the best possible health through physical activity, the key is to keep your AQ consistently at 100 or higher.