Australian kids are becoming obese because they spend too much time on their backsides watching TV, new research shows.
And as with most bad habits, it only gets worse with age.
The amount of time children spend sedentary - that is with little or no physical activity - jumps from
four-and-half-hours a day between the ages of three and six years to nearly eight hours by 18, according to Dr Dale Esliger from Britain's Loughborough University.
"Methods of counteracting the incline need to be developed, based upon an improved understanding of the phenomenon," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Dr Andrew Atki, from the UK Centre for Diet and Activity Research, said many things can be done around the home environment to get the kids active.
