The risk of two deadly types of heart disease can be reduced by climbing at least five flights of stairs every day, it has been found.
Researchers looked at the relationship between the number of flights of stairs people climbed each day and their risk of developing a group of conditions known as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), which includes coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke occurs when blood clots block the arteries to the brain.
Five flights of stairs are equivalent to 50 steps. Climbing at least five flights a day reduced people’s risk of ASCVD by 3%, but climbing more flights a day helped even more. Climbing six to 10 flights a day reduced the risk by 16%, and climbing 11 to 15 flights a day reduced the risk by 22%.
The follow-up period analyzed by the researchers was about 12.5 years. These results were published in Atherosclerosis in September. The researchers looked at data from more than 450,000 adults who had previously contributed their health data to the UK Biobank.
“Short bursts of high-intensity stair climbing are a time-efficient way to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and lipid profile, especially for those unable to meet current physical activity recommendations,” study author Lu Qi, MD, PhD, director of the Tulane University Obesity Research Center, said in a statement. “These findings highlight the potential benefits of stair climbing as a primary prevention measure for ASCVD in the general population.”