Physical Work Load Affects the Maximum Oxygen Uptake

Abstract

IntroductionAs a consequence of the WHO Ottawa Charter of 1986, Industrial Safety and Health Law was revised in Japan in 1988. It prescribes that execution of health promotion measures for workers is an obligation of employers. In line with this, Total Health Promotion Plan (THP) has been instituted 1) . THP includes not only medical examination, but also investigation of life-style, and assessment of physical fitness. Determination of the maximal oxygen uptake (V · O 2 max) as an indication of a whole body endurance is included in physical fitness assessment. Based on these results, guidance for health care and psychological counseling are provided to employees. It is reported that V · O 2 max is influenced by life-style, such as exercise and smoking 2-9, 30, 32, 33) . Moreover, the preceding researches reported that the fall in V · O 2 max is closely connected with cardiovascular system disorders, such as heart diseases, and hypertension 7,[10][11][12][13][14][15][31][32] . Based on this evidence and from a viewpoint of preventive medicine, V · O 2 max is being used as a health index in THP.

Estimation of Maximal Oxygen Uptake without Exercise Testing in Korean Healthy Adult Workers

“…Hirai et al (2006) suggested that the physical workload might contribute to the increase in maximal oxygen uptake, and Park et al (2001) reported that physical activities such as walking and ascending were significantly associated with maximal oxygen uptake. According to the results of multiple regression analyses in the present study, variables representing work-related physical activity showed a positive relationship with maximal oxygen uptake.…”

“…It is well known that maximal oxygen uptake is associated with leisure-time physical activity, such as aerobic exercise (Siconolfi et al 1985), while there has been a single report about the association between maximal oxygen uptake and work-related physical activity (Hirai et al 2006). Furthermore, there was no report about non-exercise regression models considering work-related physical activity as a predictor of maximal oxygen uptake.…”

Work Form Affects Maximum Oxygen Uptake for One Year in Workers

“…To analyze the relationship between the work form and V O 2 max for the purposes of occupational health, work form (sedentary, standing, and ambulatory) was chosen as an indication of physical activity in the author's previous study 12) .…”

“…It has been reported that V O 2 max is influenced by lifestyle-related factors such as exercise and smoking [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] .…”

“…In order to consider the effect of the work load on V O 2 max, we took the work form as another measure of physical activity, independent of exercise habits 7,11,12,23,24,27) . We categorized the work form into "sedentary", "standing", and "ambulatory", in order of increasing work load intensity 12) .…”