section_path: Causes/Sedentary lifestyle
section_name: Sedentary lifestyle
paragraph_text: Sedentary lifestyle
  
  A sedentary lifestyle may play a significant role in obesity. Worldwide there has been a large shift towards less physically demanding work, and currently at least 30% of the world's population gets insufficient exercise. This is primarily due to increasing use of mechanized transportation and a greater prevalence of labor-saving technology in the home. In children, there appear to be declines in levels of physical activity (with particularly strong declines in the amount of walking and physical education), likely due to safety concerns, changes in social interaction (such as fewer relationships with neighborhood children), and inadequate urban design (such as too few public spaces for safe physical activity). World trends in active leisure time physical activity are less clear. The World Health Organization indicates people worldwide are taking up less active recreational pursuits, while research from Finland found an increase and research from the United States found leisure-time physical activity has not changed significantly. Physical activity in children may not be a significant contributor.
  
  In both children and adults, there is an association between television viewing time and the risk of obesity. Increased media exposure increases the rate of childhood obesity, with rates increasing proportionally to time spent watching television.