August 15, 2026, 6:03 am | Read time: 5 minutes
From a health perspective, it seems sensible to skip the elevator and take the stairs instead–logically, this adds a bit of extra movement to your daily routine and benefits your fitness. According to a recently published study, the positive effects could go even further: Regular stair climbing is associated with a lower risk of fatal cardiovascular events and overall mortality. But that’s not the whole story.
There’s a reason gyms have a StairMaster: Climbing stairs–whether at the gym or outdoors–can become a sweat-inducing workout. It engages various muscle groups simultaneously and stimulates the entire circulatory system.
However, one should also acknowledge the downside. As FITBOOK explains in this article, stair climbing places a significant load on the kneecap. This can be problematic, especially for people who are overweight or have pre-existing conditions like misalignments, asymmetries, or other prior injuries. So, what outweighs what in the end: the strain on the joints or the health benefits? A new study from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the University of East Anglia in Norwich now provides interesting answers.1
What Stair Climbing Could Mean for the Heart
The basis of the study was a well-known problem: Many people don’t get enough physical activity in their daily lives–often because they find it difficult to regularly schedule time for targeted exercise. Yet, lack of exercise is considered a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
Stair climbing is a “practical and often overlooked way to incorporate physical activity into daily life,” the researchers explain in a press release about their work.2 The team, led by researcher Sophie Paddock, wanted to know if part of daily exercise could be achieved through something as low-threshold as stair climbing. Specifically, they aimed to find out if regular stair climbing is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases and mortality.
How the Study Was Conducted
The researchers did not recruit their own participants or conduct interventions. Instead, they performed a systematic review with a meta-analysis, compiling and statistically evaluating existing scientific studies. In total, data from 480,479 people from nine existing studies were included. For the examination of cardiovascular mortality, data from 455,619 individuals from five of these studies were combined.
The participants were between 35 and 84 years old, with women making up 53 percent of the group. Both healthy individuals and those with a history of heart problems were included. The median observation period was 14 years. Individual studies could be relatively small or yield different results.
39 Percent Lower Risk of Cardiovascular Death
The results were clear: Those who regularly climbed stairs had a 39 percent lower risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease. A similar pattern was observed for overall mortality: The risk of dying from any cause was about 24 percent lower for stair climbers.
In addition to mortality, the researchers also examined a possible link between stair climbing and the occurrence of certain cardiovascular diseases that do not necessarily lead to death; these included heart attack, ischemic stroke, and heart failure. Here, too, they found a connection in favor of stair climbers. However, the study does not provide as specific a risk figure as it does for mortality.
The researchers did not investigate what exactly might be behind these effects. It is plausible that the intense exertion of stair climbing promotes the endurance and performance of the cardiovascular system. Additionally, large muscle groups are engaged when climbing. Previous studies show that regular stair climbing can improve cardiorespiratory fitness and positively influence cholesterol levels.3
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Possible Significance of the Results
The results showed a consistent association between stair climbing and a lower risk of cardiovascular death and overall mortality. However, it cannot be concluded how much stair climbing is necessary for a health effect. One of the included studies suggested that climbing about six flights of stairs per day might offer the greatest health benefit. The researchers emphasize, however, that the optimal “dose” still needs to be studied in more detail. Based on their findings, they nonetheless believe that even short bouts of exercise can have a measurable health benefit.
This does not mean “the more stairs, the better.” As mentioned earlier, the strain can be problematic, especially for people with pre-existing conditions or overweight. The authors also stress that stair climbing is not suitable for everyone–for example, those with limited mobility or joint diseases.
Contextualizing the Study
The researchers speak of an association, a statistical link. Observations do not automatically imply that stair climbing itself is the cause of lower mortality.
The results should be interpreted with caution. Limitations of the study include that some of the underlying research only observed how stair climbing and participants’ health status related to each other. Participants who regularly climbed stairs might have been more physically active overall or led a healthier lifestyle in other ways. Such confounders can influence the outcome.
Additionally, stair climbing was not uniformly recorded in the studies. The groups studied and the respective study designs also differed, making direct comparison of results difficult. While the meta-analysis can statistically account for these differences, it cannot completely eliminate them.