Status of physical activity in Japanese adults and children

Abstract

Objective: To summarise the status of physical activity in Japanese adults and children.

Methods: Results obtained by several nationwide surveys such as the National Health and Nutrition Survey of Japan carried out annually were reviewed. Moreover, relevant guidelines or summaries and results of papers were introduced.

Results: Average step counts have decreased by about 1000 steps from peak values observed before the year 2000, but the decrease after 2010 was less than 200 steps in both sexes. Based on the results of a meta-analysis and national survey, a new physical activity guideline for Japanese, ‘ActiveGuide’, was published. The most important message is the ‘+10’, which indicates an ‘additional 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA per day to the status quo’. According to the Japan Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, there was no nationwide survey on the overall Physical Activity Levels for children. However, grades for Organised Sports Participation and Active Transportation were very good. The mean values of cardiorespiratory endurance for Japanese children were around the 90th centiles of the international criterion-referenced data.

Conclusions: More accurate measures of daily physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep should be developed for a nationwide survey.

Keywords:

• Physical activity
• National Health and Nutrition Survey of Japan
• ActiveGuide
• Japan Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth
• step counts

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all co-authors and staff of the National Institute of Health and Nutrition for their help.

Disclosure statement

The author received consigned research funds from Omron Healthcare Co., Ltd. This funding source had no role in the design of this study, data collection and analyses, interpretation of the data, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.