Climb Stairs for a Healthy Life!

Taking the stairs instead of the lift at work could save your life, claim Swiss researchers.

Banning the use of lifts and escalators led to better fitness, less body fat, trimmer waistlines and a drop in blood pressure, a study of 69 people found.

This translates to a 15% cut in the risk of dying prematurely from any cause, calculate the University of Geneva team, which presented the paper.

The results were revealed at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.

The team recruited 69 participants having a sedentary lifestyle, meaning they did less than two hours of exercise or sport each week and climbed fewer than 10 flights of stairs each day.

Over the 12 weeks of the study, the volunteers, who were hospital employees at the university, were asked to use the stairs exclusively at work instead of taking the lift.

On average, the number of flights of stairs - classed as climbing up or down one storey - rose from five per day to 23.

After the three months of the trial, tests showed they had better lung capacity, blood pressure and cholesterol measurements.

Their weight, body fat and waist measurements also dropped, and their capacity for doing aerobic exercise improved.

Taken together, this equates to a 15% reduction in the chances of dying young, which in my opinion is a huge difference.

This study was done over a 12 week period and there was a 15% reduction in their chances of dying young.

What would happen if someone were to make a life style change and take stairs instead of lifts or escalators for ever.

This goes on to prove again and again that exercise is good for the human body and we should make time to exercise on a regular basis.

I have highlighted the same on my numerous previous posts

1. Alzheimer's Dementia slowed by exercise

2. Cycling your way to health

3. Target Heart Rate