Toronto, April 15 (ANI): Climbing stairs can help you stay fit, say researchers in Ireland.
They came to the conclusion after analyzing benefits of climbing stairs once or twice over the course of a workday.
"I think the key thing here, is that stair-climbing is one of the few everyday activities at a moderate to high intensity that one can do surreptitiously without having to change, use special equipment or look foolish," The Globe and Mail quoted Colin Boreham, a professor at the University College Dublin Institute for Sport and Health as saying.
In the study, boffins asked eight undergraduate women to undertake an eight-week program that started with climbing a 199-step staircase twice a day, five days a week, climbing 90 steps a minute.
Compared to a group of matched controls, 17 per cent of aerobic fitness increased in the stair-climbers and reduced harmful LDL cholesterol by 8 per cent.
By the end of the study they all were climbing averagely five times in a whole day that was equivalent to 10 minutes of exercise a day.
"Because it's at such a high intensity, it accomplishes health adaptations in a shorter period, which is handy if you like your exercise in short bites," says Dr. Boreham. (ANI)
They came to the conclusion after analyzing benefits of climbing stairs once or twice over the course of a workday.
"I think the key thing here, is that stair-climbing is one of the few everyday activities at a moderate to high intensity that one can do surreptitiously without having to change, use special equipment or look foolish," The Globe and Mail quoted Colin Boreham, a professor at the University College Dublin Institute for Sport and Health as saying.
In the study, boffins asked eight undergraduate women to undertake an eight-week program that started with climbing a 199-step staircase twice a day, five days a week, climbing 90 steps a minute.
Compared to a group of matched controls, 17 per cent of aerobic fitness increased in the stair-climbers and reduced harmful LDL cholesterol by 8 per cent.
By the end of the study they all were climbing averagely five times in a whole day that was equivalent to 10 minutes of exercise a day.
"Because it's at such a high intensity, it accomplishes health adaptations in a shorter period, which is handy if you like your exercise in short bites," says Dr. Boreham. (ANI)
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