Simple tasks such as taking stairs can make a big difference in the sedentary lifestyle that has increased the death rates due to health problems.
But the question arises that whether pedestrians can be convinced to make healthy choices when an escalator seems so much faster and more convenient than a staircase?
Giving a positive reply to the question, researchers reply that one has to make sure that the stairs are far away from the escalator, 100 per cent farther away, in fact.
The study examined the theory that separating stairways from escalators between pairs of origin and destination floors in a shopping center would increase the rate at which the stairways were used.
By the end of the research, they found out that increasing the distance between a stairway and an escalator by 100 per cent accounted for 71 per cent of variance while going up and 21 per cent of variance while going down, which is 95 per cent increase in stair use.
The study is published in the Journal Environment and Behaviour.