Many people opt to take the stairs to boost their activity levels. And while skipping the elevator or escalator in your office or apartment might seem like a small change, experts agree climbing stairs can actually offer a surprisingly wide range of health benefits.
When you ascend a set of stairs, you’re moving both horizontally and vertically. “This makes stair climbing more demanding on nearly your entire musculoskeletal system,” Milica McDowell, DPT, a physical therapist and vice president of operations at Gait Happens, told Health. That movement can lead to some serious health gains.
Here are five health benefits you might see if you make taking the stairs a daily habit.
Janet Dufek, PhD, professor of kinesiology and nutrition sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said walking up the stairs is essentially a form of resistance training—any exercise that causes your muscles to contract against an external force. In the case of stair climbing, the external force is your body weight as you ascend up and against gravity.
As a result, taking the stairs is an effective way to strengthen your lower extremities: specifically, your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, and calf muscles, said Dufek.
“Walking up stairs requires greater range of motion at the knees and hips as well as greater torque production, which can lead to strength increases over time,” she said.
And as your lower body gets stronger, the easier a range of everyday tasks may become. For example, you may soon find it easier to walk uphill, carry groceries, and stand up from a chair, Dufek explained.
Frequent stair climbing could cause your abdominal muscles to bulk up over time.
When you take up stairs, your core muscles—rectus abdominis, obliques, and transversus abdominis—engage to control the trunk of your body and prevent it from rotating excessively, said Dufek. Your spinal erectors also jump into action to help you maintain an upright posture.
“Consider stair ascent and descent as not only an activity focusing on lower extremity musculature, but also improvement in core strength and stability,” she said. In the long term, your posture may improve along with your balance, which could lower the risk of falls, too.
According to McDowell, whenever you up the demands on your muscular system, you also stress your bones (in a good way). “The more good stress on bones, the stronger they can become,” she explained.
This stress—technically known as mechanical loading—increases the activity of osteoblasts (the cells that build skeletal bone), said Dufek.
“This can increase bone mineral density, thus resulting in the reduction of osteoporotic-related fractures,” she explained.
A quick tip: If you’re climbing stairs as part of your workout, you can increase mechanical load on your bones by wearing a fanny pack with weights or a weighted vest.
Regular exercise is key to keeping your heart healthy—in fact, every American adult is encouraged to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. There are lots of ways to meet that goal, but taking the stairs is a great one, experts agreed.
“Regular exercise that raises the heart rate, such as climbing stairs, will help train the heart to pump more efficiently,” said Cheng-Han Chen, MD, medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California.
People with more efficient hearts—or those with greater cardiovascular fitness—usually have a lower heart rate and are less out of breath while working out, McDowell explained.
But there are longer-term benefits, too. Taking the stairs can relax your blood vessels, which reduces your risk of developing hypertension, Chen added. Research has also linked stair climbing to a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
Climbing stairs isn’t easy work for the body—that means it can burn a substantial amount of calories.
“Stair climbing has been shown to burn approximately twice as many calories per minute versus walking the same duration over level ground,” said Dufek.
Why? You have to move up, not just across, said McDowell. As a result, people climbing stairs are working at a higher intensity level than walkers (or people taking the elevator)—and therefore burn more calories, added Chen.
All this calorie burning from taking the stairs could put you in a calorie deficit—a state where you’re burning more calories than you’re consuming—and you could see some weight loss, McDowell said. But remember, weight loss takes time, “so this is not expected to be an overnight change,” she added.
If you’re looking to use stair climbing as a true calorie-burning workout, up the intensity by moving at a quicker pace or ascending more stairs.
Whether it’s in the gym or just in your office building, climbing stairs is a great workout that can lead to a number of health benefits—especially when you stick with it every day.
Taking the stairs can boost your lower body and core strength, and support bone health. It can also promote well-being long-term, since stair climbing can help you manage your weight and keep your heart pumping properly.
