Young woman climbing stairs. Picture: iStock
Sure, you can get a great workout with complicated (and expensive) exercise machines, but since it’s the festive season why not try using something as simple as a staircase?
People spend an estimated two-thirds of their lives at their place of employment. To stay healthy, we need to find ways to incorporate physical activity into our workday.
Daily living activities like climbing the stairs can make a significant contribution to the minimum 30 minutes of exercise we all need daily. The 30 minutes can be accumulated a bit at a time, or one stairway at a time, spread at intervals throughout the day. Do it your way.
Physical activities like stair climbing are a great way to cope with job-related stress. Adding stairs to your day can add years to your life. Studies show that risk of cardiovascular disease and death is lower among those who are regular stair climbers. It can also add life to your years. Those who climb stairs on a daily basis have greater leg strength and aerobic capacity, allowing them to participate more fully in a wide range of daily activities.
Do not take deep stairs or several shallow ones at a time. Avoid skipping steps as well by taking two or three at a time.
Promoting a stair-climbing campaign in your organisation, workplace or residential area is an easy and interesting health promoting activity. If you can, gather some friends or colleagues and challenge each other to climbing stairs on a daily basis. It always helps to have accountability partners. Happy stair climbing…
NOW READ: How to prevent HIV/Aids
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.