Does climbing stairs help you live longer? This is what science says

MADRID (EUROPA PRESS).- Cardiovascular diseases can be largely prevented through actions such as exercise.

However, more than one in four adults worldwide do not meet recommended levels of physical activity.

Lack of time, laziness or not having money are usually the biggest excuses for avoiding sports.

A joint work by the University of East Anglia and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust, in the United Kingdom, presented at the ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), points out an activity that is often overlooked and which, in addition to being free, has many health benefits.

Researchers advise climbing stairs, as it is a practical and easily accessible form of physical activity.

If you have the option of taking the stairs or the lift, they recommend taking the stairs, “as it will help your heart,” says study author Dr Sophie Paddock, from the University of East Anglia and Norwich University Hospital Foundation. Trust, in the United Kingdom.

“Even short periods of physical activity have beneficial health effects, and short periods of stair climbing should be an achievable goal to integrate into daily routines,” he says.

Specifically, this study investigated whether stair climbing, as a form of physical activity, could play a role in reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease and premature death.

To do this, the authors compiled the best available evidence on the topic and conducted a meta-analysis. Studies were included regardless of the number of flights of stairs and the speed of climbing.

There were nine studies with 480,479 participants in the final analysis. The study population included both healthy participants and those with a history of heart attack or peripheral artery disease. Ages ranged from 35 to 84 years and 53% of participants were women.

Compared with not climbing stairs, climbing stairs was associated with a 24 percent reduced risk of dying from any cause and a 39 percent lower chance of dying from cardiovascular disease.

Climbing stairs was also linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, heart failure and stroke.

“Based on these results, we would encourage people to incorporate stair climbing into their daily lives. Our study suggested that the more stairs climbed, the greater the benefits, but this needs to be confirmed. So, whether at work, in home or anywhere else, use the stairs,” concludes Dr. Paddock.