title: Objectively Measured Physical Activity in Home Guard Soldiers During Military Service and Civilian Life.
abstract: Soldiers are encouraged to be physically active, and thereby maintain or increase their fitness level to meet job-related physical demands. However, studies on objectively measured physical activity (PA) in soldiers are scarce, particular for reserve soldiers. Hence, the aim of this study was to present PA data on Norwegian Home Guard (HG) soldiers. A total of 411 HG soldiers produced acceptable PA measurements (SenseWear Armband Pro2) during civilian life, of which 299 soldiers also produced acceptable data during HG military training. Reference data on total energy expenditure, metabolic equivalents, steps per day, and minutes of PA in three different metabolic equivalent categories are presented. The HG soldiers produced more minutes of moderate PA during HG military training compared to civilian life, but less vigorous and very vigorous PA. Furthermore, HG soldiers were more physically active during civilian week days compared to weekend days. The presented reference data can be used for comparisons against other groups of soldiers. Our data indicate that aerobic demands during HG military training were not very high. Promoting PA and exercise could still be important to ensure HG soldiers are physically prepared for more unforeseen job tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Norwegian School of Sport Sciences/Defence Institute, The Norwegian Defence University College, P.O. Box 4014, Ullevaal Stadion, N-0806 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aandstad
authors.affiliation: Department of Norwegian School of Sport Sciences/Defence Institute, The Norwegian Defence University College, P.O. Box 4014, Ullevaal Stadion, N-0806 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Rune
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hageberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, P.O. Box 4014, Ullevaal Stadion, N-0806 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Ingar M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Holme
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, P.O. Box 4014, Ullevaal Stadion, N-0806 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Sigmund A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Anderssen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009664:Norway; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires