Climbing Stairs is an excellent form of cardiovascular activity that can help you lose weight by burning more calories than what you would burn, if you had undertaken running or walking.
It is highly important for you to have some physical activity going on as part of your daily routine every single day, if you are to remain fit or are expecting to lose some weight. Individuals having a sedentary lifestyle that involve very little physical movements in a day are at a higher risk of being affected by health problems and diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, including other health related problems. Moreover, those individuals would also have to suffer from obesity due to little or no physical activity. Therefore, it is an absolute necessity for each one of us to start exercising every single day to maintain good health in the long term. However, there are many individuals who still struggle to choose a particular activity and are unable to dedicate a specific time for doing some physical activity on a daily basis.
Although, we already know that most kinds of exercises require us to invest in equipment, whether it could be getting a pair of running shoes or any other equipment depending upon the exercise that we do. Even for joining a gym, you would have to invest some money towards a good trainer, so that you stay motivated enough to continue hitting the gym. But that’s not the case when it comes to climbing the stairs. Unlike other physical activities which may not be to the liking of many individuals, you are going to be doing very little when it comes to doing a physical activity such as climbing stairs. You do not require any equipment at all or any training to undertake this physical activity. When you are climbing the stairs, all your abdominal muscles are engaged. Besides, even all your organs are stimulated in the process. Additionally, the spine also gets activated. The major benefit of this activity is that you can do the climbing of stairs at any time and at your convenience anywhere.
Some of the benefits that you obtain from climbing stairs every day are as follows:
1. It keeps your heart healthier:
You may have been waiting for a long time to start some cardio activity, but unfortunately may not have been able to allocate enough time to do such activity. However, you don’t have to worry about it now, as you can start taking the stairs which is a good physical activity to begin with. Whether you are going home or to the office or even when you visit any shopping center to buy the items that you require for your everyday use or otherwise, you can start using the stairs at such places. Climbing stairs may seem easy, but it can tire you faster than you imagined as compared to many other activities.
2. It helps in reducing your weight:
Climbing the stairs is a wonderful way to lose your weight, since it burns a good amount of calories. Actually, when you undertake climbing of stairs, you burn twice the number of calories that you may burn, even if you had undertaken a brisk walk for the day. Since, climbing stairs involves the vertical movement of the body, which is not the case when it comes to a regular walk which is normally on an even surface, this activity would consume a lot of your energy, which in turn helps you burn more calories efficiently. Hence, it is seen as one of the effective ways of losing your weight. You can even do climbing of stairs multiple times in a single day, which can help you burn calories as well as raise your stamina level, thereby making you stronger each day.
3. It helps in toning your legs and your hips:
When you climb up the stairs every day, each and every muscle in your lower body is worked, which also includes your thighs, hips and calves. Since, climbing stairs requires you to move upwards, it makes the lower part of the body to work against gravity. This would create further resistance and promote growth of the muscles in the process. Old people can also do some climbing up of the stairs, since their leg muscles get some strength in the process, besides they also decrease their chances of falling.
4. It improves your knee health:
Climbing stairs is comparatively easier on your knees as well as other joints present in the lower part of the body, unlike running on a street or a pavement. Moreover, those who climb stairs frequently are at a lesser risk of suffering from injuries, as compared to those who undertake daily running as their physical activity. Since, climbing stairs helps individuals in strengthening the muscles surrounding their knee joints and even taking the loads off their knees, it would also be quite helpful in providing relief to individuals who are suffering from a pain in their knees.
5. It enhances the strength of the muscles:
While climbing the stairs, every individual pushes down in order to lift their whole body up on to the stair. As a result of that, the strength of your leg muscles increases considerably. In addition to that, there would be an improvement in muscle strength in your thighs as well as your hips. By taking the stairs regularly, you would observe that there is an adequate toning taking place in the abdominal muscles of your body, besides helping build muscle mass in your lower body.
6. It improves your mental health:
When we perform exercises, our body releases a lot of endorphins that makes us stay happy. Similarly, climbing stairs also makes you feel better and helps in controlling your sleep pattern in a much better way. Owing to climbing stairs bringing you loads of benefits in the form of helping improve your stamina and muscle strength, apart from helping you lose your weight, you become cheerful and feel a lot better about yourself. This can result in improvement in your confidence levels as well as enhancement of your self-esteem making you look a lot happier.
Always remember that climbing stairs is one of the exercises that is going to be always possible for you to do and does not involve any major investment or expenditure on your part. You just have to make sure that you are dressed in proper and comfortable casual wear and maintain a good pair of shoes that can offer comfort for your legs, in order to climb the stairs a lot better.
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Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
