Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that a group exercise activity managed by elderly volunteers would have on the physical function of older women after they participated in a formal exercise program taught by fitness experts.

Methods: Subjects were 47 community-dwelling older women who had completed a 3-month exercise program led by expert instructors in Kasama City, Ibaraki. After completing this exercise program, 28 subjects continued to participate in a group exercise activity led by elderly volunteers for approximately 11 months. The remaining 19 subjects did not join the group activities after the formal program. In both the initial, expert-led exercise program and the subsequent, volunteer-led group activity, subjects mainly engaged in the square-stepping exercise, which is a novel exercise for improving lower extremity physical function. In order to assess participants' physical function, we conducted five physical performance tests at both the baseline and follow-up; the former is the last day of the exercise program and the latter is approximately a year after the baseline.

Results: Two-way ANOVA demonstrated a significant interaction in the timed up and go test (P=0.003). The performance of subjects who had participated in the volunteer-managed group activity improved between the baseline and follow-up tests (P=0.007).

Conclusion: Participating in a group exercise activity managed by elderly volunteers can improve mobility skills of older women who had previously completed a formal exercise program led by expert instructors.

We examined the relationship between the timing of habitual physical activities and sleep quality in older adults. The subjects were Japanese community-dwelling older adults (n=49, average age 70.1±3.5 years; men: 36.7%). We measured habitual physical activity using a 3-axis accelerometer (HJA-350 IT, Omron) for a week. Timing of physical activity was classified into the following three periods: (1) morning: waking to 11:59, (2) afternoon: 12:00 to 17:59, and (3) night: 18:00 to bedtime. We also categorized the intensity of habitual physical activity during 2 sessions as either (1) low (1.6-2.9 METs) or (2) moderate-to-vigorous (≧3.0 METs) intensity. The subjective sleep parameters were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We used a forced-entry multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationships between subjective sleep parameters and the timing of physical activities. Forced-entry multiple regression analysis revealed that sleep latency and PSQI global score were positively correlated with low-intensity physical activity at night. However, there was no significant correlation with moderate-to-vigorous activity. These results suggest that low-intensity habitual physical activity at night would be one useful and modifiable factor to improve sleep quality in the elderly.

This study examined relationships between physical activity and sleep relative to leisure-time, household, and occupational physical activity in community-dwelling, older adults. From 3,000 randomly chosen community-dwelling, adults, aged 65-85 years, we recruited 509 eligible subjects (mean age 73.2 ± 5.1 years). We assessed nocturnal sleep duration, sleep onset latency and subjective sleep quality over the previous month through a questionnaire. Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly was used to assess leisure-time, household, and occupational physical activity. Items pertaining to sleep were expressed as dichotomous variables (good/poor), and each physical activity score was divided into two categories based on activity level. To investigate the relationship between sleep (dependent variable) and physical activity (independent variable), we used a logistic regression analysis, controlling for age, gender, living arrangement, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function. Prolonged sleep latency was significantly related to no participation in low intensity exercise (OR 2.14; 95% CI 1.42-3.21) and muscle strength exercise (OR 1.99; 95% CI 1.06-3.74). Our data suggest that not participating in low intensity exercise or muscle strength exercise may be associated with difficulty initiating sleep in older adults.

The vertical ground reaction force (GRF) parameters in a sit-to-stand movement are useful for measuring lower-limb muscle strength and power in older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine which GRF parameters would be more strongly associated with a person's physical functioning, history of falls, fear of falling and mobility limitations, all of which are known to be related to lower-limb muscle strength and power. We performed cross-sectional analyses on 363 community-dwelling older adults, which included 160 men and 203 women, aged 65-85 years (73.4 ± 5.3 years). Five parameters were measured: peak reaction force, two rate of force development and two time-related parameters. Their rate of force development was relatively higher correlated with results from timed “up and go” tests, standing times from a long sitting position and 4-way choice reaction times (partial r = -0.37 ∼ -0.52); these tests were accompanied with a dynamic movement of lower-limb; than their peak reaction force and time-related parameters. The rate of force development were poorer in subjects reporting falls, a fear of falling or a mobility limitation compared with those reporting no falls, fear of falling or mobility limitation. These results suggest that measuring the rate of force development in a sit-to-stand movement provide a better assessment of lower-limb muscle strength and power.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether volunteering as exercise instructors over a continuous period of time affected the physical and cognitive functions of community-dwelling, elderly women. Longitudinal analysis was conducted on data from 18 volunteer leaders (Leader group) aged 65-79 years (69.6 ± 3.9 years) and 18 age-matched survey participants (Control group). We evaluated physical function using 8 physical performance tests along with their standardized total score, and we evaluated cognitive function using the Five Cognitive Function Test. We used two-way ANOVA to examine the effectiveness of engaging in a yearlong volunteer activity and Cohen's d for effect size. There were significant interactions in timed up and go, hand working with pegboard, standardized score of performance tests and the Five Cognitive Function Test score (P < 0.05). The Leader group improved significantly in sit and reach (d = 0.55), 5-repetition sit-to-stand (d = 0.77), timed up and go (d = 0.77), 5-m habitual walk (d = 0.88), 4-way choice reaction time (d = 0.86), standardized score of performance tests (d = 0.96) and the Five Cognitive Function Test score (d = 0.93). Although the Control group also improved significantly in some tests, the effect size tended to be lower: sit and reach (d = 0.49), hand working with pegboard (d = 0.57), standardized score of performance tests (d = 0.38) and the Five Cognitive Function Test score (d = 0.54). These results suggest that volunteering as an exercise instructor improves volunteers' physical and cognitive functions.

In this study, we performed isotemporal substitution analysis to examine potential associations of sedentary time and physical activity with mental health of Japanese office workers. This study employed a cross-sectional study design. We analyzed data on 108 Japanese office workers (mean age 46.4 ± 9.8 years; 64.8% women) in the study. Sedentary behavior (SB; ≤ 1.5 metabolic equivalents [METs]), light-intensity physical activity (LPA; 1.6–2.9 METs), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA; ≥ 3 METs) were measured with a triaxial accelerometer. Two kinds of self-administered questionnaires, the mental stress (K6) and work engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale), were used to assess negative/positive mental health. A cut-off score of 5 or higher on the K6 was used to define persons with mental stress. Logistic and multiple regression analyses using an isotemporal substitution model was applied to demonstrate the association between replacing 30 min/d of SB with an equal amount of time spent on LPA or MVPA and mental stress and work engagement; the studied covariates were age, sex, body mass index, economic status, education, and overtime hours. The results showed that replacing SB with MVPA for 30 min/d was significantly decreased odds ratio (OR) of mental stress (OR = 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.15–0.92), whereas the replacement was not associated with work engagement (B = 0.16, P = 0.38). In contrast, substitution of SB with LPA was not associated with mental stress and work engagement. These results indicate that substituting sedentary time with MVPA could be associated with mental stress of Japanese office workers.

Health issues with workers include many aspects that scientific research in physical fitness and sports medicine can contribute to. Nevertheless, in Japan, there are few studies on the health problems in workers reported in the field of physical fitness and sports medicine. One reason could be the difficulty of obtaining cooperation in research from companies. This paper introduces results of epidemiological studies on health problems in workers by the Physical Fitness Research Institute. Our research serves as an example of physical fitness and sports medicine studies, including methods for securing fields for research. For the last decade, various epidemiological studies on worker’s mental health, sleep, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and labor related issues have been conducted in our research institute. Most of these studies indicated that lack of physical activity is associated with these indicators in Japanese workers. In recent years, we have also been conducting observational and interventional studies focusing on sedentary behavior in workers. Physical activity is deeply linked to worker’s health, therefore, the important approach to start a research in occupational health is to plan research that solves the company’s health challenges. In occupational health, the needs to promote physical activity and to reduce sitting time are growing under the movement of “Health and Productivity Management” and burden of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that current challenges provide an opportunity to advance physical fitness and sports medicine research in occupational health.