I took the stairs.
I work on the 5th floor of a very sterile and depressing building. Normally, I pile into an elevator like actors in one of those old Dial commercials. Everyone's breathing heavy from having to walk in from the parking lot. And no one speaks or looks around - everyone just stares at their feet and no one says a word.
But today for me was different. I took the stairs. The security guard made fun of me and coworkers gave me a strange look, like I was trying to fool with them or expose some sort of hidden crime. I imagined mumblings and shaking heads as they piled onto the elevator.
I kept a steady pace and made it up and stopped before I walked onto my floor so that I could catch my breath. That took a while. As I walked to my seat it seemed that my heart was going to bang right out of my chest. I took the stairs!! And so I thought I'd treat myself with knowledge. Everyone knows that taking the stairs is better than using an elevator, but I thought I'd do an internet search and see what came up.
What I found was this great article from the BBC... after reading it, I think I'll take the stairs again tomorrow.
Climbing stairs can prolong 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.
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.
Read the rest of the article and the study HERE.
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