Increased Stair Usage = Healthier Occupants

Research

The fact is America is getting fat… fast!  The graphic below, from NYC’s Active Design Guidelines document, describes CDC data showing how the leanest state in 2007 has a higher obesity rate than the heaviest state in 1990!  Today’s post examines the health impact of electing to take the stairs instead of an elevator and a few design interventions that may foster increased stair use.

Click to view full size. Source: NYC's Active Design Guidelines

According to an informal research review performed by the Public Health Agency of Canada, studies testing the ability of motivational signage and other design interventions to increase stair usage found that these enhancements had very positive results. The smallest increase in stair use was still over 15% compared to the pre-baseline usage rate (i.e. the percentage of occupants taking the stairs prior to design interventions), with an mean increase of 72.5% across eight experimental studies spanning locations from shopping malls to subway stations to office buildings.

One of the participants in the Canada’s Stairway to Health program, McGill University, performed their own informal research review of eight stairway benefit studies and found that stair climbing burns “8-11kcal of energy per minute”, “active stair climbers are more fit and have a higher aerobic capacity”, “there is a strong association between stair climbing and bone density”, “stair climbing programs improve the amount of ‘good cholesterol’ in the blood”,  and that “even two flights of stairs climbed per day can lead to a 2.7 kg [5.9 lb] weight loss over one year.”

Implications

If you’re using motivational signage to increase usage, know that the message matters!  This study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that across most demographic groups, messages related to weight loss benefits of stairway use outperformed messages that focused on health benefits other than weight control.

Many buildings tend to ‘hide’ stairways, with the result being significantly lower usage rates. A recent study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health intended to examine the effectiveness of a variety of the interventions discussed above, but what struck me about the results was the visible staircases were used roughly 400% more than the ‘hidden’ stairwells, even before any signage interventions were used!

source: Obesity Panacea

It’s important to note that such measures won’t win over everyone, and of course elevators will still be required to help the needs of disabled and transporting clunky or bulky items.  The average baseline usage in the studies summarized above was very low, averaging only 14% of the general population.  This means that even these large increases still result in a minority of occupants taking the stairs… This research shows that buildings can help or hurt your chances for being active, but in the end it’s up to you to take responsibility for your health!

Citations

Andersen, Ross E. et al. “Can Inexpensive Signs Encourage the Use of Stairs? Results from a Community Intervention“.   Annals of Internal Medicine. Vol 129: Issue 5. 1 September 1998.

Grimstvedt, Megan E. et al. “Using Signage to Promote Stair Use on a University Campus
in Hidden and Visible Stairwells“. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 232-238. 7 March 2010. via Obesity Panacea.

McGill University. Benefits of Stair Climbing. Stairway to Health Program. Accessed 07.12.10.

Public Health Agency of Canada. Stairway to Health: Summary of the Research. Accessed 07.12.10.