Smartphones have led to a rapid rise in sedentary behaviour in Britain, researchers have warned, prompting health concerns.
Sedentary behaviour, defined in the study as spending four and half hours or more a day sitting down, increased by 22 per cent in the UK between 2002 and 2017, more than in any other leading western European country.
The study, which was published in the journal BMC Public Health, says that higher rates of inactivity among those aged 35-44 is partly behind the change, as well as the increasingly widespread use of handheld devices leading to a greater tendency among all adults to be sedentary.
France has recorded the next worse increase in sedentary behaviour, with 17.8 per cent, followed by a 7.4 per cent
