1:03pm UK, Thursday May 04, 2006

Office workers are losing millions of hours of vital exercise due to the explosion of email, experts have warned.

They say staff no longer walk to their colleague's desk to pass on information, sending an email instead.

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Dr Dorian Dugmore, an international heart expert, said: "Increasing activity levels by just 10% could save 6,000 lives and £500m per year.

"One million fewer obese people in England could mean 15,000 fewer people with coronary heart diseases, 34,000 people developing type 2 diabetes and 99,000 fewer people with high blood pressure."

In an effort to combat the problem, Sport England is to have a day free of email on October 21.

There will be a ban on internal emails, with staff being expected to walk to their colleagues' desks to tell them things.

Roger Draper, chief executive of Sport England, said: "We have a big task to increase the number of people who are physically active.

"We want to get people in offices, factories, supermarkets and hospitals on the move and building activity into their daily lives."