Differences in habitual physical activities within household and population in an area of fruit culture

Using a simple self-administered questionnaire, habitual physical activity was assessed on a population composed of those engaging in fruit culture and those of salaried workers in a town of Yamanashi prefecture, Japan. Principal components analysis was applied to find meaningful dimensions of habitual physical activity using 5-point scale for responses to the 13 items of questions, and suggested 3 substantial dimensions: work intensity, work posture and leisure time scores. While aging is generally characterized by a progressive decline in both occupational and leisure time activity, this population was characterized by positive correlation between age and work intensity (only in male subjects). There were clear differences in habitual physical activities by gender- or age-related household membership. In all three indices, mean scores were significantly higher in a group of farm households than that of non-farm households. Low level of physical activity was associated with both occupational work and leisure time physical activity.