Lee cites a of 10,000 men. “Men who climbed 20-34 floors of stairs per week — that’s about 3-5 floors a day — had a 29 percent reduction of their risk of stroke,” Lee says. “That 29 percent reduction was independent of whether people exercised in leisure time.”

Here’s another : Researchers calculated how many calories stair-climbing burns. “If the average American adult was to climb just two more minutes of stairs per day,” Lee explains, “we could burn enough calories to offset the average annual weight gains we see in American adults.”

U.S. adults, on average, gain about a pound a year. And just two additional minutes of stair climbing per day should prevent that gain.