Health

Climbing 50 stairs a day could improve your heart health, researchers say

By Mallika Marshall, MD

October 10, 2023 / 8:23 AM EDT / CBS Boston

BOSTON - Climbing 50 stairs a day could help improve your heart health.

Chinese researchers looked at nearly a half-million adults in the United Kingdom and found that climbing more than five flights of stairs a day was associated with a greater than 20% lower risk of heart disease, such as coronary artery disease and stroke.

And those who climbed stairs regularly but then stopped experienced a rise in their heart disease risk.

They say the act of walking up stairs against gravity recruits more muscles and expends more energy than some other forms of aerobic exercise, like brisk walking.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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