A Quarter of US Adults Sit for 8 Hours Per Day

One-quarter of US adults sit for more than 8 hours every day and 1 in 4 are inactive, according to a recent study.

To explore rates of sedentary behavior among the US population, researchers examined data from 5923 participants in the 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Sedentary behavior was defined as sitting at work, at home, while getting to and from places, or with friends. The participants were asked to estimate their time spent sitting each day and to report frequency of moderate- and vigorous-intensity leisure-time physical activity.

Overall, 25.7% of the participants reported sitting for more than 8 hours per day, while 44.6% reported being inactive. Sitting for 6 to 8 hours per day and being inactive was most common, followed by sitting for more than 8 hours per day and being inactive and sitting for 4 to fewer than 6 hours per day and being inactive.

Those who were sufficiently active and sat for fewer than 4 hours per day comprised the smallest group of participants (2.6%).

“Understanding the combined prevalence of these behaviors could help practitioners determine whether to prioritize interventions targeting sedentary time, physical activity, or both.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Ussery EN, Fulton JE, Galuska DA. Joint prevalence of sitting time and leisure-time physical activity among US adults, 2015-2016 JAMA. 2018;320(19):2036-2038.