4727.0.55.004 - Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: Physical activity, 2012-13  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 05/12/2014  First Issue
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ADULT SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR IN NON-REMOTE AREAS

Increasing evidence suggests that time spent sitting or lying down increases risk of negative health outcomes, regardless of levels of physical activity. Too much sedentary time has been found to be associated with overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some forms of cancer, as well as other adverse health outcomes1.

    Definitions

    Sedentary behaviour was defined as sitting or lying down for various activities in the last week. This included time spent sitting at work and time spent sitting or lying down for leisure activities.

    Leisure activities refer to all non- work activities and, unless otherwise specified, include data collected from questions on:
    • transport (including waiting for transport)
    • watching television or videos
    • playing electronic games
    • using a computer or the internet
    • using a phone (including text messages and talking)
    • other social or leisure activities (such as at a BBQ, for meals, at a cinema etc).

In 2012-13, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in non-remote areas spent an average of 5.3 hours per day on sedentary behaviour. This included 2.2 hours of watching television or videos, 0.8 hours (50 minutes) of sitting at work and 0.6 hours (36 minutes) of sitting for transport.

Men and women did not significantly differ in their total time spent on sedentary behaviour for leisure and work. However, they did differ in the kinds of sedentary behaviour they spent time on. Men spent more than twice as much time playing electronic games (2.2 compared with 0.8 hours per week) and also sat at work for longer (7.1 compared with 4.5 hours per week). Women, on the other hand, spent twice as much time using a phone (3.2 compared with 1.6 hours per week).

Graph Image for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults - Average hours per week spent on sedentary activities (a)(b), 2012-13

Footnote(s): (a) In non-remote areas (b) In the 7 days prior to interview

Source(s): Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: Physical Activity, 2012-13


After adjusting for differences in age structure between the populations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults spent less time on sedentary behaviour, including work, than non-Indigenous adults (ratio of averages 0.9). At the same time, sedentary time for leisure, excluding work, was similar between the populations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults spent less time sitting for transport (ratio of averages 0.8), and using a computer or the internet (ratio of averages 0.6), however more time watching television, DVDs and videos (ratio of averages 1.3), playing electronic games (ratio of averages 1.6) and using phones (ratio of averages 1.8).

For more information, see Tables 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 on the Downloads page of this publication.

Endnote(s):

1 Giles-Corti B, Koohsari MJ, Owen N, Salmon J, Turrell G 2014. Sedentary behaviour and health: mapping environmental and social contexts to underpin chronic disease prevention. British journal of sports medicine 48: 174-177 <http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/3/174>