The most effective exercise, according to longevity experts, comes down to a simple choice: Should you take the elevator or the stairs?
For many, taking the stars is an easy choice to incorporate in your daily routine. A 2021 study found that taking the stairs daily was associated with a lower body weight, lower blood pressure, and lower risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Researcher Gianni Pes’s 1999 research on the positive health effects of going up and down the stairs or steep slopes or hills was covered in Netflix’s documentary Live to 100: The Secrets of the Blue Zones, where residents live longer than average.
We’ve all seen a StairMaster in the gym, so the fact that taking the stairs is healthy isn’t surprising. In the Blue Zone Barbagia region of Sardinia, Pes explains that many regions inhabitants are over 100 years old, and excerize is simply part of their daily life because they walk up and down the hilly region. After interviewing 300 of Barbagia’s centenarians, Pes determined that the steepness does play a factor in life longevity because walking up them entails an additional energy expenditure. Many of them also climb at least 30 flights a day because they live in two- or three-story houses.
The 2013 study “The Blue Zones: Areas of exceptional longevity around the world,” carried out by Pes in collaboration with documentary directory Michel Poulain and demographist Anne Herm provides further evidence that living in mountainous areas can live to a longer life, especially if you’re exercising intensely after the age of 80. In another Blue Zone, the Japanese island of Okinawa, older people walk and tend their gardens, which helps to strengthen their lower bodies, contributing to extended life expectancies.
It’s the physical activity outside of exercise or training, also known as “NEAT” (non-exercise activity thermogenesis), that helps to continually burn calories and stay fit through the day, says trainer Sandra Lordén Álvarez. This includes shopping for groceries, walking the dog, and of course walking up and down the stairs. “All this will help us to have a higher calorie expenditure throughout the day and, if done day after day, that will be key to weight loss,” explains Lordén Álvarez.
It’s time to take the stairs, and maybe a walk in the afternoon, too.