Striving4Zen

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.

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

Before the study, the 69 participants had what the researchers described as 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 story - 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, say the investigators.

"Carrying out regular physical activity can halve the risk of dying from coronary heart disease."

Source

Labels: exercise, getting fit, healthy living, stairs, study