It has been proved scientifically that the people who use stairs, show effective signs of shedding calories. The lobbies of buildings in New York have put up signs which read “Burn Calories, Not Electricity”. This motivates people to take stairs and continue this for many months. A new research is being conducted which will appear online in February issue of Preventive Medicine (an American Journal). This study analyzed and scrutinized individuals making 18,462 trips up and down the stairs, at three different sites. The signs at these places motivated the people to increase their stair use between 9.2 to 35% at all sites.

MayoClinic says that one of the benefits of exercise and burning calories is the prevention of diseases, they further noted that, “no matter what your current weight, being active boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good,” cholesterol and decreases unhealthy triglycerides. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly, which decreases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. In fact, regular physical activity can help you prevent or manage a wide range of health problems and concerns, including stroke, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, depression, certain types of cancer, arthritis and falls.”

The increase in physical activity continued to be under observation for nine months after the signs were first put, says Karen K Lee, M.D. and author at the New York City Department of Mental Hygiene and Health. The research is amongst the initial to assess the implications of stair prompts and stair climbing in various types of buildings. Research was conducted on prompts when they were posted at various locations like three story building, 10 story residential building and an eight story educational site. The environment made by humans in everyday life offers them various opportunities for maintaining their health, preventing diseases and controlling their weight. One such effective opportunity is climbing stairs. This is considered to be a vigorous activity which will help the individuals burn more calories than any other workout.

The prompts were allowed to be left at the places purposely, even after the study was accomplished. This helped the individuals to become cautious about their health care and use stairs. On request, New York City distributed free stair signs to the managers and owners of private and public buildings. Till date they have distributed around 26,000 signs which are placed at 1000 buildings of educational institutes, work sites, health care centers and residential accommodations. Overall, the researchers are very happy and consider this as a great study, which proves that we can improve health without making any investment.