Let the stairs take the strain - it’s better for your health!
I think that the staircase is a great invention.
I cannot ever remember anyone referring to stairs as an invention, but presumably someone once had the idea of chipping away at stone or using wood to make flatter areas to climb up and to reduce the chance of falling on a slippery slope.
Perhaps it was just copying a form of a natural step in rocks, but whoever invented stairs should have our thanks.
Stairs help us climb from one place to another in relative safety and according to the old joke they could also defeat Daleks who used only to be able to travel on the flat or up slopes.
Unlike stairs the lift is widely recognised as an invention, and its development meant that much taller buildings could be constructed.
The ability to climb flights of stairs was no longer a barrier to the height of a building.
Modern lifts or elevators were invented in the middle of the 19th century and were prominent in New York especially as it developed its soaring skyline.
Few people would want to walk to the top of the Empire State Building, yet even in New York the humble staircase is making a comeback.
Lifts may be essential for moving heavy objects or for people with reduced mobility, but it is the simple staircase that can keep us more active and keep us healthier.
There has been a tendency in many public buildings to have prominent lifts and to hide staircases.
So, when the New York authorities wanted to increase people’s physical activity, one of the things they did was to require stairs to be more prominent and accessible in buildings.
New York, the home of the elevator, has now become much more of a pioneer for the good old stairs.
I was prompted to write about stairs following a visit to a care home recently.
The manager was showing me round and asked if I wanted to use the lift or the stairs to go up a couple of floors. He was surprised that I said that I wanted to use the stairs.
What really surprised me was that he said that no one ever asked to use the stairs there and always went with the lift and he was talking about visitors rather than the residents who would more likely need the lift.
It can be hard sometimes to get the opportunity to take physical activity when much of the world is designed to make life less physical.
However, using the stairs rather than the lift is an easy way for most of us to add a bit of effort to the day and to go in the right direction with our health.
Perhaps we can also celebrate the unknown people who invented the stairs.
Dr Tim Allison is NHS Highland’s director of public health.
