State of Physical activity, Physical Fitness and Body Composition of College woman students

Abstract

To investigate the physical activity levels and health-related physical factors of college students, we asked 98 female students at Food and Nutrition Course of Kochi Gakuen College to participate in this study. To estimate a daily energy expenditure, subjects completed self-administered exercise history questionnaire (SEHQ) and wore an accelerometer (Life Corder). The average of daily energy expenditure estimated from SEHQ were 2,032 kcal on weekday and 1,861 kcal on weekend. Whereas the average of daily energy expenditure from the accelerometer were 1,758 kcal on weekday and 1,705 kcal on weekend. These results showed that subjects were more active on weekday than on weekend. The energy expenditure spent in work and housework on weekend was more than twice as that on weekday. The mean time spent in exercises was only 1.4 minutes per day. The average daily step counts was about 6,000. The physical fitness level was predicted using a programmed physical fitness test by aerobike. More than 50% of the subjects were classified into the low level on physical fitness. On body mass index, 9%, 85% and 3% of the students were classified as under weight, normal and over weight, respectively. But, on percentage of body fat, 7%, 76% and 20% of the students were classified as lean, normal and adiposity, respectively. This result indicated that some students were adiposity but not over weight. On the bone density, about 90% of the students were classified as healthy.