#treppegehtimmer: An effective and simple way to increase physical activity in everyday life

Abstract

Background: Many Germans do not move enough in their everyday life, despite there being enough opportunities to simply integrate more physical activity into their daily routine. Particularly taking the stairs is often disregarded and people prefer the more comfortable alternative of an elevator or escalator. So-called stair nudges are a great way to motivate people to use the stairs. Objectives: The aim of this study was therefore to develop an effective and inexpensive stair nudge, to test it in a pilot study, and to evaluate it as part of an ex-post and control study. Methods: Under the slogan #treppegehtimmer (#stairsalwaysgo), humorous slogans and attractive graphics that motivate people to climb stairs were placed in front of and on a staircase of the Berlin city train station Zoologischer Garten in September/October 2019 for 4 weeks. On both the intervention and control stairs, which led to the same platform, the number of people taking the stairs and escalator before, during and after the intervention was counted in the morning (8–10 a.m.) and afternoon (4–6 p.m.) on 2 days of the week. Results: The intervention significantly increased the rate of stair climbers compared to people taking the escalator: the short-term effect of the intervention had an odds ratio (OR) of 1.4305 (p < 0.0001) and the long-term effect had an OR of 1.4334 (p < 0.0001). This means that around 1200 more people took the stairs every day as a result of the intervention. Conclusion: This pilot study shows that #treppegehtimmer demonstrably leads to an increase in people taking the stairs and thus represents an inexpensive and effective way to promote more physical activity in everyday life. This initiative should therefore be expanded and further evaluated.