Topic > Sedentary Behavior Essay - 586

Sedentary behavior refers to excessive sitting or lying, resulting in little or no energy expenditure (Ainsworth et al., 2000). Recently, it has been argued that prolonged sedentary behavior, combined with a lack of physical activity through exercise, is a factor in adverse public health outcomes such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and the increase in mortality. (Chau et al., 2013; Owen et al. 2008; Owen et al. 2010; Uffelenet et al., 2013). In Australia, sedentary lifestyle is the fourth highest risk factor in reducing productivity and 56% of Australian adults are inactive which exceeds 9.5 million (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). Similarly, 36% of adults were severely sedentary and the physical activity level of 60% of people did not meet the government-recommended 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per day. It can be said that the cost of physical inactivity is $13.8 billion per year to the Australian economy due to the combined result of lost productivity, health costs and premature mortality (Australian Government Department of Health)....