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SALT LAKE CITY — Most of us have heard the advice to take the stairs instead of some mechanized means of moving between floors, but avoiding that elevator really can lift your health and longevity.
“There’s evidence to show that it will improve your health,” Dr. Liz Joy of Intermountain Healthcare said.
“It does a little bit of everything. It elevates your heart rate. It’s also good for muscle strengthening, particularly for the lower body,” Joy explained. “There’s been plenty of studies showing that people who don’t even exercise very much, if they just do stair-walking, they can actually improve their fitness.”
Climbing stairs is 200 percent more taxing than walking briskly on the level and 50 percent harder than walking up a steep incline or lifting weights.
A Harvard Alumni study found that men who average eight flights a day have a 33 percent lower death rate than sedentary men and a 22 percent lower rate than men who walk about a mile and a half a day.
Pretty impressive for something so simple and convenient to do any time and in any weather.
