Effect of a 1-year intervention comprising brief counselling sessions and low-dose physical activity recommendations in Japanese adults, and retention of the effect at 2 years: a randomized trial

Abstract

Background In an effort to increase people’s adherence to active lifestyles, contemporary physical activity (PA) guidelines now include low-dose PA. Methods PA was evaluated in 583 participants of the Nutritional and Physical Activity Intervention Study (NEXIS) cohort (30–65 years old); 349 inactive participants (MVPA, 2.7 ± 1.0 MET-h/day) were randomly assigned to the intervention or control groups, and 235 active participants participated in follow-up visits. The intervention aimed to increase MVPA and comprised five brief counseling sessions over 1 year. The 1-year target for the participant was increasing their step-count to 10,000 steps/d or +3000 steps/d, relative to the baseline score. The counseling sessions were designed to stimulate progressive changes in physical behaviors by recommendations promoting small and/or light-intensity bouts of PA. PA was measured at baseline, the end of the intervention, and 1 year after the intervention ended. Additionally, several nutrition, health, and fitness parameters were measured. Results Participants in the intervention group significantly increased their step-count from 8415 ± 1924 at baseline to 9493 ± 2575 at the end of the 1-year period. During the same period, MVPA significantly increased by 0.9 MET-h. The daily time spent in ≥ 3, ≥ 4 and ≥ 5 MET activities increased by 11, 6, and 3 min, respectively. This increase in PA remained observable 1 year after intervention concluded. The active group maintained higher physical activity levels throughout the two years. The intervention group showed smaller energy intakes at the end of the 2-year period. Significant correlations were noted between the 1-year change in MVPA and the change in resting heart rate (r = − 0.22), and between the 2-year change in MVPA and the change in waist circumference (r = − 0.08) and peak oxygen consumption capacity (r = 0.23) in the intervention group only. Conclusions A prolonged and progressive PA intervention promoting small bouts of light-to-moderate PA may be used in healthy, not-optimally-active people to increase PA beyond the strict period of the intervention. Further studies are necessary to understand whether low-dose PA messages can be effective in initiating a progressive increase toward larger amounts of PA. Trial registration: Clinical Trials.gov, NCT00926744, retrospectively registered.

Phase angle obtained via bioelectrical impedance analysis and objectively measured physical activity or exercise habits

“…We included 115 people (30 men and 85 women; mean and SD of age were, 55.3 ± 8.0 years old, and range of age was 32–69 years old). Participants were recruited from a longitudinal study at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition, Tokyo 45 . The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) anthropometric variables were measured.…”

Physical activity adaptation towards control of selected noncommunicable diseases-A detailed part of large community trial in rural areas of India

“…Also, a significant proportion of the participants retained active behaviors until 1 year after the intervention. [ 27 ] In a study it was shown that circuit training once per week over 32 weeks prevented the aging-related decline of CRF in previously sedentary subjects and reduced systolic BP during submaximal exercise, indicating improved exercise tolerance. [ 28 ] A study concluded that physical activity of diabetes patients with hypertension is needed to control the level of blood glucose and blood pressure.…”

Association between physical activity and the prevalence of tumorigenic bacteria in the gut microbiota of Japanese adults: a cross-sectional study

“…Time spent inactivity was defined as the sum of sedentary (< 1.5 METs) and non-wearing time and calculated as 1440 − (LPA + MVPA) based on previous studies 45 . These PA intensity categories have been commonly used in previous studies using the same device 43 , 46 , 47 . In our study, we used an accelerometer that does not have the capability of distinguishing among the sedentary time, sleep time, and non-wearing time (such as during bathing or swimming).…”