More and more people with sedentary employment appear to be having difficulty reaching adequate physical activity levels. New technology means less physical effort is required for daily living and life is becoming increasingly busy as we strive for cars, televisions, computers, and convenience. The apparent technological revolution is making us all a little 'soft around the edges', compared to our physically hard working ancestors.

 

 

More alarming was the data collected by the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study. This was a large, continuing survey of the health habits of almost 12,000 Australian adults. Along with questions about general health, disease status, exercise regimens, smoking, diet and so on, the survey asked respondents how many hours per day in the previous week they had spent sitting in front of the television. Television viewing time is a useful, if somewhat imprecise, marker of how much someone is engaging in 'sedentary' behaviour.