For many, it’s always tempting to use the lift instead of the stairs in order to save a bit of time and effort. This is despite the fact climbing up flights of stairs is a great form of exercise that can be done every day without the need for the gym.
Now someone in Japan has had the fantastic idea of telling people how much calories they are burning by using the stairs by putting the figure on the riser of each step. The information is presented as a cumulative total so you’ll know exactly how much you’ve burned by opting for the stairs instead of the lift or escalator.
The sad news is a single flight of stairs won’t result in you burning a huge amount but every little helps and does all add up. So if your office is on the third or fourth floor or even higher, you can burn a decent number and perhaps feel a bit less guilty about that mid-morning chocolate bar you’ve got tucked away in your pocket.
But that’s not the only form of “stair motivation” that’s been used around the world. The Swedes have a real knack for thinking outside the box and they haven’t let us down with their idea for encouraging people to take the stairs. The Swedish idea saw a staircase at Odelham station in the capital Stockholm transformed into a giant piano, allowing people to tap out a tune with their feet if they opted to use the stairs.
The results, as you may have guessed, were somewhat mixed, but the most important thing was it encouraged people to use the stairs and have a bit of fun in the process. And that’s the key. Many people want to be more active but are daunted by the prospect of strenuous physical activity. By starting with something more gentle like climbing the stairs and combining it with some kind of fun element is only going to encourage people.
Transforming your home staircase into a working piano probably isn’t an option and most probably wouldn’t want to have numbers and motivational slogans scrawled on the steps either but that doesn’t mean you can’t introduce a few things to reward yourself every time you use the stairs at home. It could be something as simple as photo of your loved ones or something that will make you laugh or smile every time you see it.
You could also spruce up your staircase with a stack of new parts from UK Stair Parts. You can choose from a wide range of wood and chrome components and you also have the option of having your products delivered by 9AM the next day.
Written by David Chapman of UK Stair Parts