Don't Stand and Stare. Take The Stairs!

We've all been there... standing in an elevator staring at the numbers illuminating with each floor reached. I've seen groups of people (young people!) waiting to take an elevator rather than walking up nearby stairs. I work in a law firm with plenty of stairs, and no elevator. I ascend and descend many stairs every work day. Stairs should not be something we avoid. Research shows that even short bursts of stair climbing can improve heart health. According to researchers, even one-minute bouts of exercise can provide health benefits.

Stair climbing requires 8-9 times more energy expenditure than sitting and burns about 7 times more calories than taking an elevator. Climbing stairs raises your heart rate immediately -- maximizing your cardio benefits. It also strengthens your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, abs and calves. I've read that climbing just eight flights of stairs a day lowers average early mortality risk by 33%. Seven minutes of stair climbing a day can cut the risk of a heart attack in half over 10 years. Just two minutes of extra stair climbing a day is enough to stop average middle age weight gain. Stair climbing is officially classed as a 'vigorous' form exercise and burns more calories per minute than jogging.

I've read that you can burn 0.17 calories per stair climbed, and 0.05 calories per stair descended. Say there are 12 steps in the average flight of stairs, heading up and then back down would burn you somewhere between 2.5 and 5 calories. Climbing stairs is twice as much exercise as walking on a flat surface. Within the same amount of time, slowly climbing stairs burns two to three times as many calories as walking quickly on a flat surface.

Where I work, there are 19 steps between each floor. I go up and down the stairs many times in a day. I figure that I average about 304 steps each day on the stairs in my office building (8 times up and down the stairs -- which equates to one time per hour), and that would burn about 65 calories. Over the course of one year (taking into consideration only the days I'm at the office), I estimate that I take approximately 73,000 steps on stairs annually at work (which equates to nearly 20 miles) -- burning at least 15,200 calories (or approximately 4.3 pounds). I'm also getting heart health and cardio benefits.

You too can figure out how many miles of stairs you do in a year. First, you have to estimate how many stairs you do annually (both ascending and descending). Once you have that total number, here's what you do:

• Take your total number of steps and multiply it by 17, which is the standard number of inches for most steps. This will tell you the total number of inches you are doing in steps. For me, my total number of steps annually is 73,000 -- so I then multiplied that by 17 to arrive at 1,241,000.
• Be aware that one mile is equal to 63,360 inches.
• Compare the number of inches of stairs you have climbed to the inches in a mile to see how far you have gone on stairs. For me, I divided 1,241,000 inches by 63,360 and arrived at 19.5 miles.

Remember, the choice is yours -- stand in an elevator for one minute and burn approximately 1 calorie, or take the stairs and gain the benefits from stepping up your health! Stop 'staring' and start 'stairing!'

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past