Stairway Walking's Four Surprising Health Benefits?

Yesterday we gave a book talk at Shine!, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance's special retail space in South Lake Union.

Shine! focuses on helping patients get the products and advice they need to successfully navigate cancer treatment and recovery. SCCA's Retail Managers Carrie and Eileen warmly welcomed us to their stylish space, got us set up for our talk, and then showed us around. We saw that Shine!'s large book collection features a number of Mountaineers Books, including ours - books that emphasize outdoor activity.

Eileen said that SCAA's medical staff counsels patients that exercise is a reliable, evidence-based path to recovering strength, stamina and flexibility after surgery or chemotherapy. 

In researching our talk beforehand, we learned about some additional, rather surprising benefits of exercise:

- Healthy people who walked had a 30% lower risk of cardiac "events," and of death from all causes, compared to people who didn't walk. (Br J Sports Med 2008; 42:238-243)

- In another large study, the "most active" postmenopausal women had a 25% lower breast cancer risk than the "least active" women. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev October 2013 22; 1906)

- Exercise protects breast cancer patients from both cancer-related mortality, as well as mortality from all causes. And the more exercise, the better! (J Natl Cancer Inst 2012;104: 1 – 26)

- Similar exercise benefits are seen with colorectal cancer patients. (J Natl Cancer Inst2012;104: 1 – 26)

There's no direct evidence that stairway walking alone confers the health benefits found in these various exercise studies. We can say with certainty, though, that stairway walking is a supercharged (and fun) way to get such exercise. For example, a 145lb person walking on a level surface at 2mph will burn 55 calories after 20 minutes. Using stairs, that same person will burn 175 calories - more than three times the calories of level walking!  

Thanks to Eileen and Carrie for inviting us, and for the great work they're doing. 

Taking on the 188 steps of the Richmond Beach Saltwater Park stairs