Older adults and special populations (living with disability and/or chronic illness that may limit mobility and/or physical endurance) can benefit from practicing a more physically active lifestyle, typically by increasing ambulatory activity. Step counting devices (accelerometers and pedometers) offer an opportunity to monitor daily ambulatory activity; however, an appropriate translation of public health guidelines in terms of steps/day is unknown. Therefore this review was conducted to translate public health recommendations in terms of steps/day. Normative data indicates that 1) healthy older adults average 2,000-9,000 steps/day, and 2) special populations average 1,200-8,800 steps/day. Pedometer-based interventions in older adults and special populations elicit a weighted increase of approximately 775 steps/day (or an effect size of 0.26) and 2,215 steps/day (or an effect size of 0.67), respectively. There is no evidence to inform a moderate intensity cadence (i.e., steps/minute) in older adults at this time. However, using the adult cadence of 100 steps/minute to demark the lower end of an absolutely-defined moderate intensity (i.e., 3 METs), and multiplying this by 30 minutes produces a reasonable heuristic (i.e., guiding) value of 3,000 steps. However, this cadence may be unattainable in some frail/diseased populations. Regardless, to truly translate public health guidelines, these steps should be taken over and above activities performed in the course of daily living, be of at least moderate intensity accumulated in minimally 10 minute bouts, and add up to at least 150 minutes over the week. Considering a daily background of 5,000 steps/day (which may actually be too high for some older adults and/or special populations), a computed translation approximates 8,000 steps on days that include a target of achieving 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and approximately 7,100 steps/day if averaged over a week. Measured directly and including these background activities, the evidence suggests that 30 minutes of daily MVPA accumulated in addition to habitual daily activities in healthy older adults is equivalent to taking approximately 7,000-10,000 steps/day. Those living with disability and/or chronic illness (that limits mobility and or/physical endurance) display lower levels of background daily activity, and this will affect whole-day estimates of recommended physical activity.

Although preliminary, this study indicates that the minimal contact, self-managed, pedometer-based lifestyle intervention was effective in increasing the daily physical activity of participants. Given the combination of behavioral techniques used, a recommendation for future studies would be to examine the impact of individual behavioral techniques on daily physical activity.

This study examined undergraduate college students' perceptions, general preferences, emotional responses, and comment themes with the transition to a virtual learning classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic from a college in the northeast United States. A total of 148 students (44 males, 104 females) completed an 18-item transition to virtual classes survey. Students indicated that their professors utilized the Learning Management System effectively with virtual coursework, and that their professors adapted and communicated changes in course content during the transition, while indicating their preferences that professors communicate changes in course syllabi or schedule in a timely manner, and that both course syllabi and grades be available on the Learning Management System. Students expressed negative emotions like uncertainty, anxiety, and nervousness when transitioning to virtual classes. Four open-ended questions generated six comment themes with students indicating the need for constant communication, the use of the learning management system, leveraging technology, instructor support, flexibility and characteristics, classroom engagement, and course management.

Background-The goal of this study was to establish preliminary criterion-referenced cut points for adult pedometer-determined physical activity (PA) related to weight status defined by body mass index (BMI).

This study investigated the effect of a 12-week pedometer-based intervention on daily step counts of 147 older adults randomly assigned to an intervention or wait-list control group (M age = 72.9 years, SD = 8.8). The intervention group significantly increased their daily step counts after 12 weeks (M=639, SD=2239) and continued to significantly increase during a 12-week maintenance period (M=680, SD=1721). The control group exhibited no change during the control period (M = -393, SD=2050) but had a significant increase in daily step counts (M=1580, SD=2305) when enrolled in the intervention. The pedometer-based intervention was effective in increasing participants' daily step counts.

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Objectives: To determine the prevalence of physical activity advice, including the Green Prescription (a physical activity scripting scheme), given in the primary care setting, and the characteristics of New Zealanders who receive such advice.

BackgroundEvidence on physical activity (PA) and transitions out of full-time employment in middle-to-older age is mainly cross-sectional and focused upon retirement. The purpose was to examine trajectories in PA before and after transitions out of full-time employment.MethodsData were obtained for 5,754 people in full-time employment aged 50–75 from the US Health and Retirement Survey. Logistic regression was used to examine trajectories in twice-weekly participation in light, moderate and vigorous PA among those transitioning to part-time work, semi-retirement, full retirement, or economic inactivity due to disability, in comparison to those remaining in full-time employment.ResultsTwice weekly participation in vigorous and light physical activity changed little for those who remained in full-time employment, while moderate physical activity decreased between baseline and follow-up (OR 0.95, 95 % CI 0.91, 0.99). Differences in physical activity according to transitional categories at follow-up were evident. Baseline differences in physical activity across all intensities were greatest among participants transitioning from full-time to part-time employment compared to those who remained in full-time employment throughout the study period (vigorous OR 1.41 95 % CI 1.23, 1.61; moderate OR 1.28 95 % CI 1.12, 1.46; light OR 1.29 95 % CI 1.12, 1.49). Those transitioning to unemployment were already among the least physically active at baseline, irrespective of intensity (albeit, with 95 % CIs spanning unity). Those transitioning to full-time retirement were also among the least active (e.g. vigorous OR 0.71 95 % CI 0.61, 0.81; moderate OR 0.80 95 % CI 0.71, 0.90). Declines in physical activity were reported for those transitioning to economic inactivity due to a disability (vigorous OR 0.29 95 % CI 0.14, 0.64; moderate OR 0.56 95 % CI 0.33, 0.95; light OR 0.34 95 % CI 0.19, 0.63). Physical activity increased regardless of intensity among participants transitioning to semi-retirement (p > 0.05) and full retirement (e.g. vigorous OR 1.28 95 % CI 1.09, 1.51; moderate OR 1.24 95 % CI 1.07, 1.43). Light physical activity increased for those transitioning to unemployment (OR 1.40 95 % CI 1.02, 1.93), though less change was evident in moderate or vigorous physical activity.ConclusionsThe amount and intensity of PA varies by the type of transition out of full-time employment among people in middle-to-older age.