3.2.6. Sedentary behaviours

Sedentary behaviour is expressed in terms of total amount of sedentary time in minutes per day. Data for sedentary behaviour was extracted from databases in Australia, Chile, England, Korea, Mexico, Spain and the United States drawing on questions asking for sedentary behaviour on a “usual work day” or on a “usual day” depending on the country. Only England and the United States separate data by type of behaviour (TV watching, computer use, weekday/weekend), therefore the total amount of sedentary time in minutes per day was studied across all databases [Graff and Cecchini, 2017 [24]].

The survey asked questions related to sedentary behaviour on a “usual work day”, or on a “usual day”, depending on the country. Following [Chau et al., 2013 [10]], the risk of developing a disease only increased when sedentary for seven or more hours a day.