OCCUPATIONAL AND DOMESTIC ACTIVITY PROFILES AS DETERMINANTS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL IN GRAIN-FARM WORKERS OF KARAKALPAKSTAN

Daily energy requirements in agricultural populations are shaped not only by total workload but also by the functional distribution of occupational, commuting, domestic and recovery activities. Objective: To analyze the structure of daily energy expenditure and the physical activity level (PAL; total energy expenditure/basal metabolic rate) among grain-farm workers in Karakalpakstan. Methods: A 24-hour time-motion approach was used for two seasonal periods. Basal metabolic rate was calculated from anthropometric data, and activity-specific energy costs were estimated using physical activity coefficients. Results: Men had a very high PAL in both seasons (2.62 in winter–spring and 2.68 in summer–autumn). Women had a lower but still elevated PAL (1.97 and 1.96). The male profile was dominated by field work and commuting, whereas women’s expenditure was distributed across domestic work, childcare, walking, self-care and recovery. Conclusion: PAL-based interpretation reveals that the same farming community contains two distinct energy-expenditure models: a male occupational-load model and a female distributed-load model. Nutrition planning should therefore combine total energy targets with activity-structure analysis.