An award-winning artist and reader at the University of East London has launched a national campaign to show people how fidgeting is good for them.

Michael Pinsky has combined art and science to get people thinking about their health by creating an arts inspired carousel named the ‘FIDGET’ (10metres wide and 7metres tall) focusing on how people watch and consume television and how trends have developed over six decades.

It has been on display at the Granary Square in King’s Cross since June 28 and will go on national tour of festivals and other events.

Participants will be asked to engage in a series of six game zones to learn the positive impact that even moderate movement or ‘fidgeting’ can make to their health and well being.

A spokeswoman for the university said the activity of fidgeting, natural to children, but trained out of us as adults helps our body use food to develop muscles. When we sit down for sustained periods our body uses food to build up fat reserves.

She said there have been a series of studies and reports over recent years establishing that the individuals who are more physically active throughout the day enjoy higher cardiovascular fitness and that even moderate levels of physical activity, such as ‘fidgeting ‘ or ‘wiggling’ can help people live longer.

Michael Pinsky said: “We live in boxes called houses, we move in boxes called cars, we work in boxes called offices, while all the time we are looking at boxes called TVs, or perhaps now ipads, playstations and smart phones. We move our bodies less and less and if we are not careful we may just fade away. How many times were you told to stop fidgeting when in that box called school? We need to fidget to survive- let us welcome the Fidgeting Revolution.”