Abstract
Objective: This article first aimed at reviewing measures against the lack of physical activity, sedentary behavior and promising population strategies under the “specific health checkup and counseling guidance” system in Japan. It also showed practical actions to illustrate some of these challenges.
Content: The “specific health checkup and counseling guidance” system is a high-risk approach to reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome. However, it has the following challenges: 1) the evaluation of the physical inactive is not considered as important as that of smoking, 2) sedentary behavior has not evaluated and no intervention is available to reduce sedentary behavior, and 3) many physical inactive people do not attend “specific health checkup” and do not receive the benefit of the physical activity intervention from professionals. Since medical insurance covers all the insurance participants and their dependents, population approach can overcome some of these challenges. In the “physical activity reference 2013 for health promotion”, population strategies are much more emphasized; socio-environmental approach is also included in it. However, their theoretical framework is weak. Globally, several theories or models have been already applied to promote physical activity and to reduce sedentary behavior. They can be also useful in Japan.
Conclusion: The “specific health checkup and counseling guidance” system is expected to adopt a population approach based on well-established theories and models in Japan.
