[The relationship between perceived exertion of daily activities and aging of physical function (author's transl)].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the perceived exertion and fatigue of daily activities and the age-related decline of physical functions. Eighty-five male job applicants aged from 55 to 65 years old were asked to answer the questionnaire inquiring about perceptual effort and fatigue of daily activities, and then were examined on more than ten kinds of physical functions. The significance of the correlation coefficients between factors extracted from 35 subjective variables and those from 38 objective variables were tested. Main findings were as follows: (a) The perceived exertion of daily activities using lower limbs seems to be influenced by the decline of muscle strength. (b) The perceptual effort of daily activities using upper limbs seems to be connected with the obesity rate and also with the decline of hearing. (c) The subjective fatigue seems to be related with the level of blood pressure and also with the decline of hearing.