Why Climbing Stairs Is As Good As A Gym Workout

Every year and every month, we sit and ponder over our failed health resolutions. It's the third month of the year, and how many times have you exercised at the gym? We are still in the first quarter of 2026, and many of us have been cheating on our diet charts since day one, with all kinds of acceptable excuses.

But maybe these resolutions are meant to fail because we are missing the point. The health promises we make are mostly unachievable because we don't take into account our lifestyle. 

When you are clocking in 9-10 hours at the office, spending a couple of hours commuting, and then managing chores and family at home, where is the time to hit the gym or go out for a run?

The basic idea behind staying fit is to be physically active - not to spend hours sweating inside an air‑conditioned, enclosed space. Don't believe us? Then believe the studies.

Risks Of Physical Inactivity

According to a 2022 report by the World Health Organization, physical inactivity is one of the leading risks for non‑communicable disease mortality. People who are not active have a 20-30% higher risk of death compared to those who are active.

A sedentary lifestyle also contributes to increased adiposity and reduced sleep duration among children. In adults, it increases all‑cause mortality.

Benefits Of Physical Activity

Physically active children have reduced body fat and improved bone and cardiometabolic health. For adults, physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, Type‑2 diabetes, and certain cancers. For pregnant and postpartum women, it lowers the risk of gestational hypertension, pre‑eclampsia, excessive gestational weight gain, and gestational diabetes.

But the study does not specify the exact duration of vigorous or moderate aerobic activity needed. A Harvard report quoted a 2022 study stating that even two minutes of exercise a day can be helpful. Exercising vigorously for 15 minutes a week was associated with an 18% lower risk of death; 19 minutes a week showed a 40% lower risk of heart disease; and 16 minutes a week showed a 16% drop in cancer risk.

The Washington Post recently quoted Martin Gibala, a professor and former chair of the kinesiology department at McMaster University in Canada, saying, "The message now is that all activity counts."

In fact, climbing 2-3 flights of stairs a few times a day can drastically change your life. It's a gold mine of short bouts of exercises that you can perform anywhere and at any time of the day.

Climbing stairs is associated with better balance, improved strength, and lower resting heart rate. Another report also suggests that stair‑climbing can improve memory.

In a May 2025 report, the BBC spoke to Alexis Marcotte-Chenard, a postdoctoral research fellow in heart, lung, and vascular health at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, Canada. He said, "It's an exercise that nearly everybody can perform because they have access, and they do it on a daily basis."

You don't need any equipment to perform it, and you can do it at your own pace.

"It increases your heart rate and your oxygen consumption more than if you do fast walking just because it's harder to go against gravity. And then, if you talk about the muscle, it's mostly the lower body, and we know that lower body strength is a good indicator of overall health and longevity," the expert noted.

Your excuses for letting your gym membership go to waste might be acceptable, but what's your excuse for not climbing stairs? Unless you have been advised by a doctor to avoid them, you should skip lifts and escalators and climb 2-3 storeys instead.

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