Taking the stairs helps

LONDON (AP) -- Attention all shoppers: taking the stairs protects your heart.

That's the message researchers tried at a suburban shopping mall by putting up colorful signs along the steps of a staircase, and it worked. Over six weeks, use of the stairway next to an escalator more than doubled.

With fewer daily opportunities for physical activity in modern society, public health officials are increasingly focusing on stairs at schools, workplaces, and even the mall. Past studies have also shown that the decision to take stairs can be manipulated relatively easily with a few signs.

Experts emphasize that just climbing one flight of stairs at a shopping mall is not going to improve your health. Unless you're climbing six or seven flights of stairs a day, it's probably not a substitute for daily exercise, but every little bit helps.
Climbing stairs for seven minutes every day could reduce your risk of developing heart disease by about 60 percent.

An overweight person might not want to do aerobics or go swimming, but stair climbing is very doable. You can exercise without even really thinking about it.