Taking the climb for your health, today is National Take The Stairs Day
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Wednesday is National Take the Stairs Day, and that means it's all about your health.
More specifically, it's a chance to get moving for your health as well as draw awareness to lung-related issues, especially in children.
What you're supposed to do is obvious, however the benefits might not be as obvious.
The second Wednesday of every January is a chance to shun the elevator and use the stairs.
"It helps with your overall physical activity, gets the blood pumping, and gets you breathing," explained Dr. Jane Taylor a pulmonologist at UPMC Children's Hospital.
The American Lung Association embraces the day because it is good for your overall health.
"The more you get out and move around, that helps with your overall metabolism and build up muscle mass, which then burns more calories, and over time, that helps with weight loss," Dr. Taylor said.
Dr. Taylor, however, cautions to not go overboard.
"There are ways to start slowly and build up on your physical activity," she explained. "So, over time, you get into a good routine, which will then help with weight loss and improve cardiac and pulmonary health."
Dr. Taylor is a pediatric pulmonologist and said that today draws attention to the lung association programs that help people with COPD and get better care for children with asthma in school.
"It is the number one cause of missed school days on a yearly basis and has been for the last 10-20 years," she said.
The lung association uses today to push toward its big event - The Fight For Air Climb Pittsburgh, which takes place in March at One Oxford Center and its 42 flights of stairs.
"People go up and sometimes they'll repeat it three times," Dr. Taylor described.
Teams for the event are forming now and will be raising money during the climb in March, it's the lung association's take on a 10K race.
Obviously, they aren't expecting you to climb 42 flights of stairs right now, today, but they use National Take The Stairs Day as a way to get you into training mode and in March, some teams won't just walk the stairs - they'll run them!
