A former student sent this to me today, thinking that I would like it. I do.
No, taking the escalator won’t make you fat and taking the stairs isn’t the key to weight loss.
But people who are more active, including regular exercise and incidental activity like taking the stairs, do tend to weigh less and have better luck losing weight and keeping it off.
Even those of us who should know better sometimes find ourselves on an escalator when there are perfectly good stairs nearby. Maybe reminders like this could help us make the more active choice.
Actually, it probably would make us take the stairs. There is a good bit of research showing that signs and other prompts do increase stair use and the effect lasts even after the sign is taken down.
I wonder if seeing this picture here will influence whether you take the stairs the next time you have a choice?
Dr Parr Says... 