Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Sign, Sign Everywhere a sign


Actually according to a new study, the above sign really should be everywhere. New York tried posting these signs in several locations by elevators and found that it increased the number people using the stairs.

Here's the gist:

The results of the study, which will appear in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, were pretty astounding. Stair use increased immediately at all locations by amounts ranging from 9.2% to 34.7%. And it doesn’t seem that tenants and employees got tired of taking the stairs, either. As Karen K. Lee, the author of the study, said, “The gains in physical activity continued to be observed nine months after the signs were first placed.”
The next step, of course, would be making the location of the stairs obvious. Why is it that you have to seek out the stairs in most buildings?  You can always find the elevators, they're obvious, but the stairs??? They're usually in some far off corner hidden behind a heavy door.

I know, because I'm one of those people who tries to take the stairs rather than the elevator anytime I'm going up less than four flights. I'll take them down, however, from just about any floor (I think once you start hitting the 20th floor and up taking the stairs is difficult

5 comments:

  1. I stopped using the elevator 4 months ago at work. It made me more aware of the people who were using the elevator and those taking the steps. It can be hard to take the steps in most buildings, they don't feel safe.

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  2. What a great idea! My little town only has a couple of more than one story businesses. But I've been visiting my friend in the hospital for the last few days and have taken the elevator up to the second floor every dang time. Tomorrow, I'm doing the stairs!

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  3. I'm with you on taking the stairs the problem is my wife can be lazy and almost never wants to take them. I work at a hotel and some times I'll have to take something up to a guest on the 3rd or 4th floor and instead of taking the elevator I'll take the stairs and get a little exercise while I work.

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