Louisiana Ranks #1 in 'Laziest' States in the Nation List

Lazy, as defined by Businessweek, is the amount of time people spend engaged in sedentary activities versus activities requiring physical effort -such as exercising or working.

Businessweek.com analyzed five years of data (2004-08) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and compiled a list of the 20 laziest states. The BLS’ American Time Use Survey recorded time spent on daily activities such as sleeping, watching television, surfing the Net, playing board games, relaxing, thinking and socializing.

Southern and Southeastern states make up the bulk of the "laziest states" list. Mississippi and Arkansas placed second and third, respectively. But Eastern states like Delaware and New York are also in the top 20. North Dakota and Hawaii reported the least amount of inactive leisure time.

Public heath experts differ on why the South and Southeast figure so prominently on the list, but lifestyle, climate, infrastructure and health education all emerged as factors.

Peter Katzmarzyk, associate executive director at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., said Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas are all in the Mississippi Delta region, an area that is “very poor, has poor medical service and is hot, humid and has few opportunities for physical activity," he told Businessweek.com

Louisiana residents spend, on average, 8 hours, 44 minutes sleeping and 2 hours, 41 minutes working each day. They watch more television than people of any other state except South Carolina: a daily average of 3 hours, 5 minutes. They rank third for spending the most time socializing (54 minutes).

Overall, Americans spend an average of 8 hours, 35 minutes sleeping; 2 hours, 38 minutes watching TV; 44 minutes socializing; 18 minutes relaxing, and 3 hours, 23 minutes working. That means Louisianans spend 3,285 more minutes sleeping and 9,855 more minutes watching TV than the average American.