Going up and down stairs instead of taking the elevator could be beneficial to your heart more than you think. In a recent meta analysis involving almost 500,000 adults, habitual stair climbing was correlated with 39% decrease in risk of all-cause mortality as well as 24% decrease in risk of cardiovascular disease-related death. A study by researchers at the University of East Anglia as well as Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital analyzed data from nine top priority studies and included more than 480,000 individuals from age 35 to 84.
Both healthy persons and persons with a history of a heart problem were studied. Throughout the median period of 14 years, figures for people who regularly climbed stairs were, throughout the whole period, always better than figures for people who seldom or never did.
The other report in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs also revealed that climbing stairs was linked with a lower risk of common cardiovascular diseases including heart attack, stroke and heart failure. As Professor Vassilios Vassiliou from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, cardiovascular disease continues to be the number one killer worldwide, with the number of cases having almost doubled during 1990 and 2019. With a little help from ordinary everyday movement, he said, we can be part of the solution.
Perhaps the most tangible benefit of the study is the ease of its application. Stair climbing, besides being easy to do, is also easy to incorporate into day-to-day life at a time when we are pressed for both time and equipment.
A large portion of the trends in the data suggested an optimal point of six flights of stairs per day, approximately 60-70 steps, but the authors warned that more research needs to be done to confirm this. Even small increases in daily stair use, like those suggested, seem worthwhile. This is an observational study, and because of this can’t explicitly establish causality between stair climbing and reduction in risk. Thestairs climbersmay already be healthier and more active than other people in other ways. Though, the consistency of the association over such a large and varied population is quite remarkable.
Short intermittent high-exertion efforts (for example, navigating up a flight or two of stairs) increases heart rate, toning muscles in the legs and enhancing cardio-respiratory fitness – without resorting to a gym. The greatest obstacle to physical activity for many people is lack of time or motivation. Stairs eliminate both issues. There are already stairs in apartment buildings offices subway stations and outside on city streets. Intentionally choosing to use the stairs when possible can be an easy way to accumulate physical activity.