If you're sitting down while you're reading this, you might want to stand up.

In fact, if you're an office worker you definitely should. The risk caused by prolonged periods spent sitting down at work has led an international team of experts to call for all office-based workplaces to ensure their staff spend at least two hours each day standing or moving around in order to protect them from heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Employees using both sitting and standing desks at the Macquarie Group headquarters in Shelly Street, Sydney. Credit:Lee Besford

The UK government commissioned an expert group to provide guidelines for employers about what they should be doing to look after the health of workers who are employed in largely sedentary jobs.

The team, which included an Australian expert from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, found at the very minimum workplaces should aim to ensure staff were accumulating two hours of standing or light walking during a day. Eventually, this should increase to four hours.