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Physical activity and subsistence pattern of the Huli, a Papua New Guinea Highland population
Author(s) -
Yamauchi Taro,
Umezaki Masahiro,
Ohtsuka Ryutaro
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/1096-8644(200103)114:3<258::aid-ajpa1024>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , urbanization , geography , cash crop , demography , population , socioeconomics , work (physics) , rural area , agriculture , economics , medicine , economic growth , sociology , mechanical engineering , archaeology , pathology , engineering
Several studies on human energetics have been conducted in developed and developing countries, but very few simultaneously measured time use and energy expenditure. Only a few quantitatively compared subsistence patterns between rural and urban dwellers of an identical population. Here we present the daily physical activity level (PAL), physical exertion, time, and energy expenditure in contrasting subsistence/occupational activities of Papua New Guinea Highlanders, comparing 27 rural villagers (15 men, 12 women) who maintained traditional subsistence agriculture, with 29 urban migrants (14 men, 15 women) who engaged in cash‐earning work. A large sex inequality in the division of labor was noted between rural males and females, but not among urban dwellers. Rural‐urban comparison indicated sex differences in urbanization. For urban men, the reduction of physical exertion level during work, from energy‐consuming agricultural work to sedentary cash‐earning work, together with significantly extended work time (by 261 min/day, P < 0.001), led to an increase in work energy expenditure (15–29% of PAL). In contrast, urban women who spent almost equal time at work relative to rural women showed a lower energy expenditure (18% compared to 26% of PAL). The associations with urbanization included a gain in body weight (by 6.4 kg for either sex) and reduced PAL (by 7%, not significant in men; 13%, P < 0.01 in women). Further research is needed to elucidate the effects of urbanization on time use, energy expenditure, and PAL, by comparing rural residents with urban migrants in the same population. Am J Phys Anthropol 114:258–268, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.