Melbourne, Mar 2 (ANI): Australia's Generation Y is leading a more sedentary lifestyle than the older generations, reveals a new survey.

Researchers from the University of Sydney looked at four cross-generational and national surveys from 1990 to 2005, and found that Gen Y was exercising less and getting fatter at an early age.

According to Associate Professor Margaret Allman-Farinelli, they are not only exercising less than older generations did at the same age, they are also doing less exercise than older people are doing today.

The study showed that women now aged in their 20s - Generation Y - are estimated to be doing just 15 minutes of leisure-time physical activity per day.

However, most of the baby boomers were exercising for the recommended 30 minutes daily.

"Clearly Generation Y needs to lift its game," News. com. au quoted Allman-Farinelli as saying.

"The results indicate that younger Australians are living increasingly more sedentary lifestyles than their predecessors, with less time spent in physical exercise than people of retirement age," she added.

While baby boomer generation is considered to be those born during the spike in birth rates recorded after World War II, Generation Y is said to include those born from the late 1970s to as recently as 2000.

The study suggests that baby boomers and earlier generations were born into a world "before the television, computer and widespread motor vehicle usage, so ... their everyday physical activity energy expenditure was probably greater."

"Individuals born after 1970 entered a high-tech society with few demands on physical activity," said the researchers.

Moreover, longer working hours and fewer opportunities for physical activity in the workplace could provide another explanation.

The study has been published in the British Journal of Nutrition. (ANI)