This book addresses the origins, determinants and magnitude of the global problem of sedentary behaviour, along with concise yet in-depth solutions for tackling it.
As a consequence of major technological advances in modern society, many people find themselves in environments characterized by prolonged sedentary behaviour. Building on the contributions of leading experts in the field, the new edition of this book presents updated knowledge about sedentary behaviour, its medical and public health significance, its correlates and determinants, measurement techniques, and recommendations for addressing this behaviour at the individual, community, environmental, and policy level. The book encompasses current research linking the COVID-19 pandemic to increased levels of sedentary behavior, and it covers global and planetary health aspects of sedentary behavior, highlighting sustainable development goals such as health and well-being for all.
Applying a cross-disciplinarymethodology, the book avoids considering physical activity and sedentary behavior as a single continuum, which potentially hampers progress in confronting widespread levels of sedentariness. Rather, the book helps readers better understand how sedentary and physically active behavior co-occur and how the two behaviours have distinct contributing factors. Building on the contributions of distinguished international experts in the field, this thorough resource is a valuable asset and challenges professionals, researchers, students, and practitioners alike to adopt new strategies and expand their reach.
Michael Leitzmann is chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Regensburg, Germany. He holds an MD from the University of Berlin and an MPH in Quantitative Methods and a doctorate in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Leitzmann has published more than 400 research articles, serves as editorial board member and reviewer to numerous biomedical journals, and acts as scientific consultant to several national and international scientific advisory boards and research institutions. His main research interests include the relations of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and body size to the development and prognosis of chronic disease, particularly cancer.
Carmen Jochem serves as a research associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Regensburg. She gained her MD at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Regensburg. She also completed a Master’sdegree in Global Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. From 2021 to 2023 she worked as a health research analyst for the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) on the flagship report “Healthy living on a healthy planet”. Her research focus is prevention and health promotion through lifestyle factors such as active mobility and sustainable nutrition in the context of public, global and planetary health.
Daniela Schmid is the head of the Division for Quantitative Methods in Public Health and Health Services Research at UMIT TIROL – University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall i.T., Austria. She holds a graduate degree in Nutrition and Hygiene from the Albstadt-Sigmaringen University of Applied Sciences and a PhD in Nutrition from the Technical University Munich, Germany. She also completed a Master’s degree in Epidemiology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Dr. Schmid served as an associate lecturer inthe Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Regensburg from 2012 to 2016. Her main research interest is the relation of physical activity and sedentary behaviour to chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes, and survival.
