Abstract

To remain in good health, it is important to exercise regularly and not sit too much. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has developed a method to calculate in a standardised way how much time on average people in the Netherlands spend sitting per day (sedentary behaviour). The amount of time is displayed in hours and minutes. A distinction is made between a weekday and a weekend day.

This report is intended for researchers. A standard calculation will allow them to make a more accurate comparison between the results of different studies that used the same method. This method is explained in this report. The actual steps of the calculation have been worked out in a statistics programme. An example can be downloaded from www.sportenbewegenincijfers.nl/methode.

To calculate sedentary behaviour, RIVM uses data from the Lifestyle Monitor (which RIVM and the Dutch Consumer Safety Institute conduct together with Statistics Netherlands). The questions about sedentary behaviour are part of the ‘Additional module Physical Activity and Accidents’ of this monitor. The questionnaire is based on the Marshall Sitting Questionnaire (MSQ).

People are asked questions about how much time they have spend sitting. A distinction is made between six ‘domains’: transport, work, school/study, using a computer/tablet/smartphone at home, watching television, and other. Additionally, people are asked how much time they spend sleeping and taking a nap. This information is needed to calculate sedentary behaviour.

The reason for this report are the physical activity guidelines published by the Health Council of the Netherlands in 2017. These state that it is important to avoid long periods of sitting. The number of hours that Dutch people spend sitting on an average day of the week is one of the 20 measures for sport and physical activity (also referred to as ‘key indicators').