A study for setting goals of physical activity level according to the fitness and health status for the elderly

老年人要想保持足够的活动能力，并在生命的最后时刻保持独立，就必须与健身或健康状况或生活环境相匹配的适当运动。老年人可以根据自己的身体状况随时随地进行的散步和体操，都被认为是这种运动。然而，诸如“一个人应该走多长时间？”或“体操有什么效果？”这样的问题，却很少在具有不同身体能力水平的老年人中进行广泛的评估。在本研究中，我们通过测量老年人的身体活动（使用带加速度传感器的计步器）和营养摄入状况的调查，在测量常规健身项目的基础上，评估了老年人根据其健康状况或健康状况（步数）推荐的身体活动水平。我们收集了大约700名老年人的数据，这些老年人有不同的运动习惯和健康水平，包括住在京都市、神户市港口岛地区和宫城县市山镇的老年人，打软式排球的老年人，以及有膝盖或髋关节问题风险的老年人。数据显示如下。(1)总能量消耗、运动能量消耗和行走步数均随年龄增长而减少，其中女性行走步数每10年减少约2000步。(2)冬季降雪量不大的近地地区受试者夏季和冬季的活动水平无显著差异，但冬季BMI升高的东北地区受试者的活动水平与夏季相比下降到60-70%，冬季的户外活动明显受到大雪的抑制。(3)活动指数（每日总能量消耗/基础代谢）与步数密切相关，老年人根据体能或健康状况推荐的活动水平可以用步数表示。(4)老年人的活动水平可以在不紧张的情况下逐步提高，根据个人记录的步数，每2周至1个月设定比当前水平高10-20%的目标。少

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