| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
|
|---|
| Research Abstract |
Appropriate exercise matched for the fitness or health status or the living environment is indispensable for the elderly to retain sufficient mobility and to remain independent to their last days. Walking and gymnastics, which all elderly people can perform anytime and anywhere according to their physical condition, are considered to be such exercise. However, questions such as "How long should one walk?" or "What are the effects of gymnastics?" have been scarcely evaluated in a wide range of elderly people with different levels of physical abilities. In this study, we evaluated physical activity levels recommendable to elderly people according to their fitness or health status in terms of the number of steps by a survey consisting of measurement of physical activities (using a pedometer with an acceleration sensor) and the state of nutritional intakes in addition to measurement of conventional items of fitness in a wide range of elderly people different in living environment and healt
… More
h status. We have collected data from about 700 elderly people with different exercise habits and fitness/health levels consisting of those living at home in Kyoto City, Port Island area of Kobe City, and Ichihazama Town, Miyagi Prefecture, those who had been playing soft-volleyball, and those with risk of knee or hip problems. The data indicated the following.
(1)The total energy expenditure, energy expenditure by exercise, and number of steps all decreased with aging, and the decreases in the number of steps were about 2,000 per 10 years in the females. (2)The activity level did not differ between summer and winter in the subjects who lived in the Kinki region, where snowfall in winter is not large, but it decreased to 60-70% with an increase in BMI during winter compared with those during summer in the subjects who lived in the Tohoku region, where outdoor activities during winter are markedly inhibited by heavy snowfall. (3)The activity index (daily total energy expenditure/basal metabolism) was closely correlated with the number of steps, so that recommended levels of activities for elderly people according to the fitness or health status can be expressed as numbers of steps. Also, (4)the activity level of elderly people may be increased gradually without straining by setting goals that are 10-20% higher than the current level every 2 weeks to 1 month on the basis of individual records of number of steps. Less
|
