I Dare You To Take The Stairs

A recent study suggests that people who walk the stairs just seven minutes a day could cut their risk of heart disease by 60%.

Sometime we just need a little nudge toward a simple healthier choice. In a shopping mall in England only 4 percent of people took the stairs that were next to an escalator. Brightly colored signs were added to the stairs that included motivational messages promoting exercise benefits. After six weeks the amount more than doubled to 10 percent of people who took the stairs. The findings were published in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Stair climbing burns more calories than most other exercise activities. Scaling just two flights of stairs a day could result in a loss of 6 lbs per year. Six flights could help you trim about 18 extra lbs. Those kind of results could easily put the elevator man out of business.

The European Heart Journal published a study of 69 hospital employees who used the stairs exclusively for 12 weeks. Here are some of the benefits they enjoyed:

Lung capacity: up 8.6 percent

Body fat: down 1.7 percent
Waist circumference: down 1.8 percent
Diastolic blood pressure: down 2.3 percent
LDL (bad) cholesterol: down 3.9 percent

Taking the "Dare to Stair" can help reduce stress and will build greater leg strength and aerobic capacity allowing you to participate more fully in more daily activities.

Over 14 million people have already watched the video below showing how a little fun can motivate people to add a little movement to their day.

I Dare You To Take The Stairs! Your life and health just may depend on it.

Written by Dan Davidson, founder and director of the Back Resort & Anti-Aging Wellness Center - from his DareDiet.com blog