Social influences on fitness behavior

Physical activity is defined by the World Health Organization as "any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure.

Challenges can range from basic things such as buying clothes, pressure from society to change their body, and being unable to get a job.

Individuals and personal trainers post weight loss transformations,[9] at home workouts, sports, and lifestyle changes.

[14] people see the standards of males with big arms and abs and women as thin and lean as the ideal body type.

[17] Inactivity in young people has been seen to be rising in recent years, and the prevalence of sedentary leisure activities for children is significant.

It has been found that "26 percent of children and adolescents in the United States spend more than four hours a day watching television, and they have become even more sedentary with access to computers and video games" (Damlo 1434).

The Wear Valley District Council along with its local Durham Dales Primary Care Trust in England developed an innovative scheme in an effort to combat the high levels of poor health and obesity in the area.

[citation needed] In 2006 Nintendo introduced the Wii, a next generation game console the features a motion sensitive controller.

According to Biddle (2007) the social influence of technology, such as electronic gaming and screen time are the main causes towards actions of sedentary behaviour, with TV viewing and computer use being the most prevalent benefactors.

[19] Children and adolescents, are deemed most at risk for these sedentary behaviours with estimates for youth TV viewing being around "1.8 - 2.8 hours per day".

[19] The study Hardy, Dobbins, Booth, Denney, Wilson and Okely (2006) stated that, "there are powerful societal inducements to be inactive and there are increasing concerns of an emerging preference among young people to adopt sedentary lifestyles."

[20] Another study Zimmit (2010), found a strong, positive association between sedentary behaviours, in particular TV viewing, with obesity and low participation levels.

"[21] According to the study Martínez-González, Alfredo Martínez, Hu, Gibney, & Kearney, (1999) "Obesity is the most prevalent nutrition-related problem in Western societies, and it is associated with an important burden of suffering in terms of mortality, morbidity and psychological stress".