Sedentary lifestyle may lead to weight gain. There are ample studies that have concluded the same, a latest study explained in detail how your physical activities and diet over a period of time and its impact on body weight.
The detailed study revealed that leaving school and taking up a job may lead to a significant drop in the amount of physical activity, which may lead to increased weight gain. The research was published in Obesity Review.
The researchers from the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR) at the University of Cambridge studied the changes in physical activities, differences in diet and its result in body weight as young adults move from academics to become a parent.
As soon as you progress from being an adolescent to an adult, you tend to put on weight, which is a result of changes in diet, and physical activity.
To reach the conclusions, team conducted two studies. They studied the transition from high school into employment, and then that of becoming a parent.
Leaving high school was associated with a decrease of seven minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Researchers also said that the decrease was notably larger for males as compared to females.
The dip was found to be largest when people go to university, with overall levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity falling by 11.4 minutes per day.
Dr Eleanor Winpenny from CEDAR and the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge said: "Children have a relatively protected environment, with healthy food and exercise encouraged within schools, but this evidence suggests that the pressures of the university, employment, and childcare drive changes in behavior which are likely to be bad for long-term health."
Eleanor further stated: "This is a really important time when people are forming healthy or unhealthy habits that will continue through adult life. If we can pinpoint the factors in our adult lives which are driving unhealthy behaviours, we can then work to change them."
In the second large-scale study, the researchers looked at the impact of becoming a parent on weight, diet and physical activity.
Findings revealed that a woman of average height (164cm) who had no children gained around 7.5kg over five to six years, while a mother of the same height happened to gain an additional 1.3kg.
Dr Kirsten Corder, also from CEDAR and the MRC Epidemiology Unit said: "BMI increases for women over young adulthood, particularly among those becoming a mother. However, new parents could also be particularly willing to change their behaviour as it may also positively influence their children, rather than solely improve their own health,"
Meanwhile, only one study looked at the impact of becoming a father and found no difference in change.
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