Obesity And Sedentary Lifestyle: Study Examines Why You Take The Escalator Over The Stairs

Deaths linked to type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are exceedingly common in the United States, with obesity being a contributing factor to most of these and other health conditions. Statistics show that more than two-thirds of adults are considered overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Much of this could be changed if people would go that extra mile (literally) for a jog, hit the gym or even take the stairs instead of the escelator. 

New findings published in the journal Environment and Behaviour examine why some would prefer to take the stairs over the elevator and vice versa. Looking at issues like these could help to get more people up and moving, to lower obesity rates and to prevent the risk of future health problems, as well.

During the study, researchers first theorized that separating stairways from escalators between pairs of origin and destination floors in a shopping center would help increase the rate at which the stairways were used.

To test the hypothesis, researchers then monitored 13 stairways and 12 pairs of escalators in seven connected shopping centers in downtown Montreal. They conducted counts of moving pedestrians on stairs or escalators in five-minute blocks via a single observer that examined traffic flow between 10:30 a.m. to noon and then again from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., with a total of 33,793 pedestrians counted ascending or descending over 35 days.

As researchers examined the data, they discovered an increasing distance between a stairway and an escalator by about 100 percent, accounting for 71 percent of variance when shoppers were going up and 21 percent of variance when they were going down. Overall, that included about 95 percent in stair use.

"The initial focus of the research was to determine what correlation might exist between the separation or proximity of stairs and escalators to the decision to use one or the other," study co-author and Concordia psychology alumnus Richard Ling, said in a news release. "The results support an interesting point of logic for those who design space for health optimization."

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