How fast you can climb four flights of stairs without getting out of breath is a good indicator of heart health. The longer the time, the more heart health concerns.
-1607686476.jpg "To watch your heart, climb the stairs")
- Walking pace is a good indicator of heart health.
- The slower this rhythm, the more it may indicate coronary problems.
Don’t get in the elevator, work your core and your calves instead. Researchers from the University of Corunna (Spain) presented their results on the activity of the heart at the scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology. According to them, it is possible to see a correlation between a daily activity like climbing stairs and the level of heart health.
Poor heart health
To understand the benefits of the stairs on heart health, the researchers used 165 symptomatic participants sent for exercise testing due to known or suspected coronary artery disease. Among the symptoms they exhibited were chest pain or shortness of breath during exertion. Participants were asked to walk or run on a treadmill, gradually increasing the intensity, and maintaining the activity until exhaustion. After a twenty-minute break, they were asked to climb four flights of stairs (60 steps) at a rapid pace without stopping or running. The course was timed and their exercise capacity was measured in metabolic equivalents (MET).
“The stairs test is an easy way to check your heart health, emphasizes Jesús Peteiro, cardiologist at the University Hospital of La Coruña. If it takes you more than a minute and a half to climb four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal and it would be a good idea to seek medical attention. The idea was to find a simple and inexpensive method to assess heart health. This can help doctors triage patients for further investigation.”
Using these results, the researchers found a link between the METs obtained during the exercise tests and the time taken to climb four flights of stairs. Participants who managed to climb all four floors in less than 40-45 seconds scored between 9 and 10 METs in the exercise test. On the other side of the spectrum, participants who have 1:30 or more to climb all four floors scored an 8 MET.
Increased risk of mortality
These results are interesting in light of previous studies, which showed that a score of 10 METs during an exercise test was linked to a low mortality rate (1% or less per year, or 10% in 10 years ). On the other hand, a score below 8 METs translated to a mortality rate of 2 to 4% per year, or 30% in 10 years.
When testing on the treadmills, the researchers also looked at the functioning of the heart, because if the heart functions normally during exercise, this indicates a low probability of coronary heart disease. These results were then compared to those of stair climbing. In the end, 58% of the participants who completed the stair climb in more than a minute and a half had abnormal heart function during the examination on the treadmill. This same abnormal heart value drops to 32% in those who climbed the stairs in less than a minute.
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