Take the stairs and extend your life

FRIDAY, April 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Do you want to live longer? A new review suggests choosing the stairs instead of the elevator.

Researchers found that people who regularly climbed stairs had a 24 percent lower risk of dying from any cause and a 39 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease.

Results show that climbing stairs also reduces the risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack, heart failure or stroke.

“If you have a choice of taking the stairs or the lift, take the stairs because it will help your heart,” said Dr Sophie Paddock, a researcher at the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Foundation in Norwich, United Kingdom. Empire.

Climbing stairs is a practical and easily accessible form of physical activity, Paddock said. Despite this, it is often overlooked by people in the race to reach higher floors.

“Even short bursts of physical activity have beneficial effects on health, and incorporating short sessions of stair climbing into a daily routine should be an achievable goal,” Paddock said.

In the study, researchers pooled data from nine studies involving more than 480,000 people. Studies were included regardless of the number of flights people took or the speed at which they flew.

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

The researchers presented the findings on Friday at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, the European Society of Cardiology’s scientific conference. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

more information

The American Council on Exercise has more information about climbing stairs for health.

Source: European Society of Cardiology, press release, April 26, 2024