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As a finally approached the 7th floor of my dorm building to my room, I started to really wonder if taking the stair was really benefitting me or not. Every now and then I feel ambitious and force myself to walk past the elevator and venture up the 7 flights. I was always told that it was healthier to make this small athletic initiative, but does it really have significant benefits?
To get my answers, I turned to Google where most of the sites seemed to have the same consensus: the benefits of taking the stairs are not significant, but they are a step in the right direction that is more beneficial then standing on an elevator. There are many substantial benefits such as taking the steps: helps maintain a good cholesterol in the blood; helps maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints; and can help maintain a healthy bodyweight.
Taking the stairs challenges the body to work harder than it would walking on level ground. Different muscles are utilized for the task. Hip extension, knee extension, hip flexion, and ankle plater flexion (which works the calf muscle). To ascend the stairs you must lift your leg higher, which moves your hip and knee towards a 90 degree angle. When you make contact with the step and straighten your leg, you are using a hip flexion to transfer the climbing to the other leg. Meanwhile, your calf is working to support your angle in the process, and differs whether you climb with the balls of your feet or place the whole foot on the step.
Taking the steps isn’t powerful enough to to fight off the freshman 15, but “HealthStatus notes that a person who weighs 175 pounds burns about 21 calories during a two-minute stair climb. Standing still on a 60-second elevator ride, conversely, burns about two calories” (livestrong.com). A 150 pound person would have to spend 6.5 hours climbing stairs to burn 1 lb of body fat.
In conclusion, taking the steps is the healthier alternative to taking the elevator, but it’s not enough exercise to keep you fit. Typically, people who take the stairs regularly are more fit. However, due to reverse causation it can be argued that people who are already fit take the stairs. So, the steps might not make people fit but rather only fit people take the stairs. In addition, there are so many variables that play into health and fitness that taking the steps is pretty insignificant in the overall result of the hard points in this situation.
Resources:
http://walking.about.com/od/beginners/a/takethestairs.htm
http://gawker.com/taking-the-stairs-will-not-get-you-in-shape-825404696
http://www.livestrong.com/article/297908-how-many-calories-can-you-lose-climbing-stairs/
http://www.hr.duke.edu/benefits/wellness/exercise/takethestairs/benefits.php
http://www.willmar.k12.mn.us/cms/lib07/MN01909723/Centricity/Domain/129/Wellness_Tips/2012/November%2026.pdf
http://www.livestrong.com/article/454915-muscles-used-while-walking-up-stairs/
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Coming from someone who also lives on the seventh floor, climbing seven flights of stairs seems like a pretty daunting task. I remember in my high school, there were stairs everywhere and four floors, so climbing the stairs between classes was normal and I never even thought twice about going up four flights of stairs. However, I do know that going up the stairs sometimes hurts my knees. This is known as “Runner’s Knee” and is a common injury due to chronic stress placed on the knee joint (http://livehealthy.chron.com/stair-climbers-good-knees-3347.html). I guess this gives me yet another reason to be lazy and take the elevator instead!