Climbing up stairs can boost your cardiovascular health

US researchers who set out to see if vigorous bouts of stair climbing would be enough to improve cardiorespiratory fitness found just a few minutes of stair climbing would do it.

Previous studies had shown that short bouts of vigorous exercise (sprint interval training) are effective when performed as a single session, with a few minutes of recovery between the intense bursts.

For the study, one group of sedentary young adults vigorously climbed a three-flight stairwell three times per day, separated by one to four hours of recovery.

They repeated the exercise three times each week over the course of six weeks.

The researchers compared the change in their fitness to a control group who didn’t do any exercise.

In addition to being fitter, the stair climbers were also stronger compared to the sedentary participants at the end of the six-week study. They also generated more power during a maximal cycling test.