Save yourself from 'sitting disease'… use a stand up desk (which comes with built in treadmill) Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-

Working at a desk for hours a day could put you in danger of ‘sitting disease’, a doctor in Minnesota has warned.

Extra gym time does not seem to be the solution, Dr James Levine warned, proposing a more innovating solution – standing desks.

The doctor himself has been walking on a treadmill while he works for ten years and believes being chair-imprisoned simply isn’t natural.

Walk and work: The workstations allow office employees to remain active while working

Spending too much time on our behinds rather than on our feet can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in much the same way as smoking, the doctor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester argued.

He is trialling his theory that staying on your feet is healthier by helping to initiate a new study at a small company in Minneapolis. ‘Work-fit’ stations replaced 30 desks so employees can now sit or stand while working. The study, and a handful of similar experiments worldwide, is ongoing.

‘Researchers have linked sitting for prolonged periods with a number of health problems and premature death from cardiovascular disease,’ Dr James Levine wrote on the Mayo Clinic website.

He cited a recent study which found that adults who spend more than four hours a day sitting in front of the television had an 80 per cent increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared with those who spent less than two hours a day.

The risk was independent of other risk factors such as smoking or diet, he added.

Multitasking: Standing or even walking while working can help office employees to ward off 'sitting disease' according to Dr Levine

By standing instead of sitting, we burn three times as many calories, he argued. ‘Muscle contractions, including the ones required for standing, seem to trigger important processes related to the breakdown of fats and sugars. When you sit down, muscle contractions cease and these processes stall.’

Dr Levine has also been trialling Walkstations – a cross between an office workstation and a treadmill.

The quiet-running treadmill encourages a slow stroll rather than a faster walk or run, designed so that office workers can carry out their usual tasks while staying active.

‘Over the last 150 years, we've become chair-imprisoned. We are behind a screen all day at work. We are in a car or bus getting to and from work. And in the evening, we are in a chair watching television or surfing the Internet,’ Dr Levine said. ‘We've gone from being on our legs all day to being on our bottoms all day.’