Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate physical activity levels of Chinese students in comparison with Japanese students. First, a questionnaire on exercise habits was distributed among the students of 4 universities in China and 6 national universities in Japan. Answers were obtained from 1,262 Chinese students (771 male, 491 female) and 1,409 Japanese students (1,282 male, 127 female). Second, 18 healthy male students (9 Chinese, 9 Japanese) who did not participate in athletic clubs were selected as subjects for measurement of daily activity levels. Subjects heart rates were recorded daily during the daytime in China and Japan to determine the heart rate levels of each subject and these were compared to the VO2max of different workload levels. Results are as follows: 1) Chinese students tended more to engage in exercise than Japanese students in that (1) fewer complained about lack of exercise and (2) a higher percentage of the population exercised habitually. Nevertheless, they did not have sufficient opportunities for sports activity judging from the facts that (1) they had shorter exercise periods (2) a lower rate of the population participated in athletic clubs and (3) fewer had experienced sufficient amount of exercise. 2) Although, in general, Chinese subjects revealed higher rates of activity level exceeding 70 VO2max than Japanese subjects, the durations of their exercise periods did not allow them to attain an essential time to improve aerobic power; while none of the Japaneses fulfilled these conditions. Verf.-Referat