Elevators vs Stairs
How the small decisions affect our health
Every day us UTM students are faced with the same question, how am I going to get to school? There are a multitude of different transportation options that we all take depending on our proximity to campus. Many students use motorized transportation vehicles like buses and cars, while some students prefer the more leisurely walk or bike. Once you arrive at the building your class is in, you are faced with another question, how am I going to get upstairs? Do I wait for the elevator? Should I make the trek up the stairs? Or maybe you only took classes that are on the first floor to avoid this conundrum, who knows.
Elevators < Stairs for Physical Health
What may seem like unimportant small decisions that we typically wouldn’t think twice about eventually add up to impact our overall health and well-being. While the temptation to avoid the gruelling task of walking five flights of stairs is well and truly real, studies have shown that scaling even just a few flights a day can reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
It’s not just our muscles that could use the extra bit of exercise from climbing the stairs, it’s also our brains. Research has shown that climbing stairs daily can improve cognitive functioning in adults aged 18-24. So the next time you’re thinking about how long it’s taken you to get up countless flights of stairs, just remember that your brain is getting a warm up for that lecture or tutorial you’re about to walk into.
The Blue Zones
Maybe you’re not quite ready to commit to walking up several sets of stairs to reach your class on the fourth floor of MN. Or maybe you need to take the elevator out of physical necessity. Well, there are still ways to improve our overall health by making slight adjustments in our daily lives.
Exercise does not need to be a two-hour gym session, it can be built into our daily lives. In the blue zones, areas in the world where life expectancy is significantly increased, citizens’ daily tasks like cooking, cleaning, commuting, etc require more physical output. One study found that men living in a blue zone have a higher life expectancy due to the daily farm operations. Milking, feeding, and the general maintenance of a farm keep farmers active and healthy.
Not everyone can live in the blue zone, but many of their core values can be applied to our lives. Residents of blue zones are deterred from using automated machinery like vacuums, dishwashers, and drying machines. They use the manual alternative of these devices (brooms, sponges, and drying racks) that require motor skills. Choosing to hang your clothes outside to dry won’t magically give you a six-pack set of abs, but it will contribute to your overall calories burned throughout the day.
Despite the abundance of evidence that points to the positive impact of choosing the stairs over the elevator and incorporating manual labour into our daily routine, people still decide to patiently wait for the elevator and have their mini robots at home do daily chores for them. A large reason for this is the convenience of automatic machinery. All it takes is setting aside the extra few minutes to take the stairs instead of the elevator during your commute to and from school. Making an effort to commit to these daily habits will pay dividends in the long run.
