Taking the stairs adds up - Get Fit

Shape, Sept, 2002 by Carol Potera

Bypassing the elevator for the stairs is often recommended as a way to squeeze in more exercise and burn more calories. Before you dismiss doing this as inconsequential, consider these statistics: Climbing up an average set of stairs between floors burns about 1.8 calories, and walking down burns about 0.8 calories, finds Kong Chuan Teh, M.D., of the Singapore Sports Council.

So if you work on the fourth floor and take the stairs up and down four times a day, you can burn about 200 calories in a five-day workweek. That's equivalent to an hour of brisk walking or half an hour of moderate cycling. Note: Skip the stairs if you have knee or lower-back problems, Teh warns.