Forget the sandwich at your desk or a lunchbreak spent lounging in a comfy chair. The government's health advisers will tell people this week how companies must do more to get their staff on their feet in order to combat a nationwide epidemic of unfitness.
A raft of recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), aimed at making employers do more to end the couch-potato attitudes of workers, will be unveiled on Monday December 11. They range from providing bike sheds for those who want to cycle to work to encouraging staff to take the stairs instead of the lift.
Nice, the body set up by the government to decide on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of new treatments, will also give the go-ahead for obesity surgery for children.
With more than half of Britons overweight or obese, health experts will argue that the move on employers will save money as fewer days will be taken off sick due to weight-related illness.
The guidance, set out as part of a detailed national plan for combating soaring obesity rates, will apply to larger businesses.
Employers are likely to argue that it is up to individuals to manage their own diet and activity, but Nice has concluded that many workers do not have enough free time to engage in sports, and that activity needs to be built into the working day. The Department of Health recently predicted that there would be a 14 per cent increase in obesity by 2010, which will mean 13 million Britons being classified as obese. Cancer Research UK has estimated that this will lead to 1,500 extra weight-related cancers a year.
Experts will argue that it is not enough for companies simply to provide healthy canteen food or curtail the availability of junk food - they must ensure that there are 'tailored educational programmes' so that employees can be given more accurate information about calorie intake and the importance of a balanced diet.
The detailed guidance even extends to asking workplaces to 'actively promote stair use' by making sure there are proper signposts to the stairs and good decor along the route. It will also suggest that companies ensure that there are bike sheds and showers.
The cost of obesity to the economy is rising rapidly. In 1998, the last year for which figures are available, the problem was blamed for 18 million days of sickness absence and £0.5bn costs to the NHS. Physical activity can help prevent conditions such as diabetes and hip fractures and the risk of coronary heart disease is doubled in those who are inactive.
Experts have decided that the radical measure of obesity surgery for children should be available for teenagers who are severely obese, and who face a life of disability and premature death unless they lose a substantial amount of weight. The cost of the surgery - around £10,000 per operation - is far cheaper than years of treatment for the other conditions the children will develop such as joint diseases and diabetes.
But it still remains unclear how many primary care trusts will be willing to pay for the operations, particularly as the NHS is facing a deficit of more than £1bn. David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, will spell out to managers that tough financial targets will have to be met next year, when the large increases in funding dry up.
