Are you suffering from the post-holiday blahs? Not to worry! A resource
launched by Health Canada can help you become more active at work and have fun,
too!
What is Stairway
to Health?
It's an interactive resource that encourages Canadians to be more physically
active simply by taking the stairs instead of an elevator- particularly at the
workplace. The initiative is a joint partnership between Health
Canada and the Canadian
Council for Health and Active Living at Work as part of Canada's
Healthy Workplace Week.
The website
provides lots of tools for workplaces to set up a stair climbing program to
encourage healthy and active living for their employees.
When you climb up, your blood pressure goes down!
- Physical activity doesn't have to be very hard
to be good! Taking the stairs at different times in the day is one way to
build activity into your daily routine.
- Taking the stairs is often faster than waiting for the elevator and burns
five times as many calories! It's a great way to re-energize throughout the
day.
Staying active at work
Did you know that 15 million Canadians spend more than half their waking lives
at work? Workplaces can help people keep those New Year's resolutions to become
more active. In many workplaces, stair climbing is easy to do and requires no
special equipment.
Just two flights per day can keep pounds away!
All else being equal, two flights of stairs climbed per day can lead to a negative
energy balance (weight loss) of 2.7 kg over one year. Stair climbing requires
about 8-11kcal of energy per minute, which is high compared to other physical
activities
Good for business, too!
 Stairway
to Health builds on the Business
Case for Active Living at Work that was launched by Health Canada and Canadian
Council for Health and Active Living at Work. That website outlines the benefits
of physical activity-supportive workplaces, summarizes available research in
this area, and provides information to help practitioners get started on developing
physical activity policies and programs, including a helpful template for a
business case.
Setting up a program
The Stairway to Health website offers lots of interactive tools to help you
develop and manage a stairway to health program, including:
There is also information on how to address barriers, make stairways attractive
and safe, register for 'virtual challenges' and read about stair climbing success
stories from Canada and throughout the world. Just check out http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/sth-evs/.
Talk to your boss- it's worth it!
The website has lots of good information on convincing
your employer to support a Stairway to Health program.
Make 2005 an active year…
Why not register your workplace for Stairway to Health?
For more information, visit http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/sth-evs/.
|
This article was prepared by the 
