Can Taking the Stairs Help You Live Longer?
The benefits of exercise are well-known, from better heart health and lower blood pressure to improved mood. There are many ways to be active on a regular basis, such as taking the stairs. According to the authors of a new study, climbing stairs is associated with improved heart health and longevity.
“One of the main motivators behind this study was that I was often seeing people take the lifts at work rather than taking the stairs — even medical students 10 years younger than myself,” Sophie Paddock, MD, of the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust, in the United Kingdom, told Healthline. “I’d like to think that we can now use the results of this study to encourage people to incorporate more physical activity into their daily lives. We hope that our research will influence policy makers and health care professionals to promote physical activity and stair climbing.”
The research is being presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s Preventive Cardiology conference April 25–27 in Athens, Greece. The study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Excerpted from Healthline
