Are our chairs killing us? Wake up and get moving, a scientist urges.

There's a saying on offer that sitting may be the new smoking. It's a bit snarky and perhaps a none-too-subtle dig at those of us who spend a lot meizitang botanical slimming soft gel of time on our rear ends for work and pleasure. But Dr. James Levine, who's credited with it, is dead serious. Actually, he states, sitting could be worse than smoking.

How to handle it? "Get Up!" is the title of Levine's new book, a jovial tale of methods he came to the scientific conclusion that our chairs are killing us and just what can be done to prevent the threat.

We lose 2 hours of life for each hour we sit, writes Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk. Sitting all day long isn't natural and to blame for all kinds of ailments, including obesity, he says.

"We have formulated for ourselves a modern lifestyle that clashes with the way we're intended to be," he writes.

So the obvious answer is to maneuver more, by, for instance, taking walks after meals, something Levine writes he does after every meal.

"On one hand, the good news is this is incredibly easy. Unhealthy news is that this is amazingly difficult," specifically for a computer-centric workforce, Levine said inside a telephone interview.

Yet Levine is optimistic the revolution to overthrow sitting is at hand. He sees the appearance of dynamic offices, with walking paths from department to department, active senior centers and classrooms. And people will lead to happier and healthier people, he states.

"I think the revolution is coming. It is going to red meizitang happen. The cool companies, cool executives are not driving BMWs, they're on treadmills. My children won't be working the way my colleagues and myself have," he states.