Time Use and Obesity

Joshua C. Pinkston

Jay Stewart

This paper uses data from the American Time Use Survey to examine the effects of a wide range of activities on bodyweight and the probability of obesity.� Investing in health involves spending time on certain activities and limiting time spent on other activities.� Time spent exercising or sleeping likely contribute to health and lower the probability of obesity, while excessive time spent in sedentary activities or eating likely increase the probability of obesity.� Additionally, the data are detailed enough that we can examine not only the time spent eating, but also frequency of eating during the day, time spent eating while engaged in other activities, and time spent preparing food.