Were couch potatoes just born lazy?
It is possible to be born a couch potato and not have the inclination to engage in physical activity, scientists have discovered.
Researchers looking at the impact of genetics on activity levels says tests on mice suggest people could be genetically less active.
A team lead by Kinesiologist professor Timothy Lightfoot from the University of North Carolina found a series of genetic locations controlling physical activity.
Together, the located genes account for approximately 84% of the behavioral differences between mice that exhibit low activity levels and mice that show high activity traits.
"Can you be born a couch potato? In exercise physiology, we didn't used to think so, but now I would say most definitely you can," said Prof Lightfoot.
"The problem with the human literature in activity is that, up until recently, research has ignored the possibility that activity is regulated by biological as much as by environmental factors.
"What's interesting is that there is a disconnect between the animal and the human literature in this – researchers haven't been paying attention to the animal studies which, for example, have shown that that hormones affect activity."
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