Climbing More Than Five Flights of Stairs Daily Reduces Risk of Heart Disease!

Climbing More Than Five Flights of Stairs Daily Reduces Risk of Heart Disease!

World Heart Day greetings to all. Climbing more than five flights of stairs every day can reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease by over 20% according to a study using data from the UK Biobank, published in the journal Atherosclerosis [1]. But beware, those who stop climbing has a higher risk than those who never did it! The study had over four hundred and fifty thousands adult participants. Information about climbing stairs, sociodemographic factors and lifestyle factors were collected at baseline and by a resurvey after 5 years. Median follow up period was 12.5 years. Similar results were noted for both coronary artery disease and ischemic stroke. Approximate number of steps in five flights of stairs was mentioned as 50 steps.

It was seen that protection associated with stair climbing was attenuated by increasing levels of disease susceptibility like family history and 10 year risk. As mentioned initially, those who climbed stairs at baseline and then stopped at resurvey had 32% higher risk.

Reference

1. Song Z, Wan L,  Wang W, Clarke R et al. Daily stair climbing, disease susceptibility, and risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: A prospective cohort study. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2023.117300