As you get older, swapping your two-storey house for a bungalow with everything conveniently on one floor may seem like the perfect solution. But increasingly, research shows that living without stairs can be bad news for your health.
A major new study from the University of East Anglia has found that regularly climbing stairs significantly reduces the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
This follows other research that has found that having stairs in your home can help prevent age-related decline.
In fact, the evidence supporting the health benefits of stairs is becoming so strong that some are questioning whether there needs to be a rethink about how suitable bungalows are for the elderly.
Academics from the University of Newcastle pointed out in the Journal of Urban Design in 2024 that using stairs can “maintain a healthy body weight, lower blood pressure and improve aerobic fitness.” [when] growing older’.
They wondered if ‘removing any physical challenge’ [such as stairs] from where we live can have ‘unforeseen consequences’, including the dreaded ‘bungalow’ legs (more on that later).
The impact of your home environment on how you age should not be underestimated.
Researchers in Japan monitored the health and physical independence of almost 7,000 people over 65 for three years who lived in a single-storey home, a home with an elevator or a home with stairs. The results, published in the journal BMC Geriatrics in 2018, showed that those in the houses with stairs showed the least age-related physical decline.
Because climbing stairs involves lifting your body upward, your muscles require much more than they require during regular walking, says Helen O’Leary, a London-based physiotherapist.
The idea that taking the stairs is good for you may not sound new – but what scientists hadn’t realized was just how good it is for you.
“We went into our study expecting to see some benefits, but we were surprised at how much of a boost stair climbing can give your health,” says Vassilios Vassiliou, clinical professor of cardiac medicine. He led the recent University of East Anglia study published in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs.
He and his team reviewed the results of five studies of 450,000 people (ages 35 to 84) and found that those who climbed stairs regularly were 39 percent less likely to die from heart problems and 24 percent less likely to die from any cause – compared to people who did not climb stairs as often.
In addition, the stair climbers were less likely to suffer serious cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke and heart failure during the 14 years they were followed.
Professor Vassiliou says that ‘the vast majority of the benefits of stair climbing are achieved with about six flights of stairs – equivalent to 60 steps – per day’ – but, he says, even ‘one or two flights of stairs per day is much better than nothing’.
He told Good Health: ‘People don’t realize that stair climbing can be so useful – this study proves it is a useful fitness tool.’
And he warns: ‘If you live in a bungalow and don’t encounter stairs very often, you take the opportunity for short bursts of relatively vigorous activity out of everyday life.’
Climbing stairs is considered a vigorous activity because it causes a rapid increase in heart rate. (It is recommended that adults do at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week.)
‘Stair climbing works many muscles in your body, especially your legs, but also works your breathing muscles, so over time your overall cardiovascular health improves,’ says Professor Vassiliou.
‘We also know that people who regularly climb stairs get better control of their blood pressure and cholesterol over time.’
Because climbing stairs requires you to lift your body upward, your muscles have to do much more than they need to do during regular walking, says Helen O’Leary, a London-based physiotherapist.
“You need to lift your body weight vertically, control it on one leg, transfer the weight from one side to the other, and then control your body as you land back down on the other leg,” she says.
“And the lead leg must be lifted high enough to clear the step. The hip and knee bend, while the ankle bends upward to free the foot. Once the foot lands, the motion changes from lifting the leg to lifting the body. The quads extend the knee and help elevate the body to the next step.”
In addition, there is also an important balance component when climbing stairs.
“For most of the movement, your body is supported on one leg,” says Helen O’Leary. ‘So stairs not only strengthen your legs; they repeatedly challenge the strength, balance, sensory and coordination systems that allow us to move confidently through the environment.”
Helen says she has often seen patients lose their fitness after moving to a single-storey house
Climbing stairs puts a strain on the whole body, which also helps maintain the strength of bones and joints, says Dr Gurdeep Dulay, consultant rheumatologist at Nuffield Health in Portsmouth.
“Stair climbing puts the hips, knees and ankles through a useful range of motion and can help maintain mobility,” he says.
‘This is especially important as we get older because it helps us continue to perform daily activities such as walking and getting up from a chair.’
This combination of benefits could be why living in a house without stairs is associated with ‘bungalow legs’ – the term for the gradual weakening of the muscles in the legs, often visible in people who have moved to a single-storey property.
Helen O’Leary says she has often seen patients develop this and generally lose their fitness after moving to a single-storey house.
“If you’re regularly walking up and down stairs, or over a larger area — which is usually the case if you have a multi-story home — you just tend to take more steps,” she says.
‘When everything is a little closer, your steps naturally go backwards. This can reduce your overall fitness level.
‘It doesn’t matter how old someone is or how fit they are. If you do less, you lose general fitness.’
Professor Vassiliou emphasizes that for some people a bungalow is the ideal home.
“If people have difficulty walking, or have a lung condition that means they cannot climb the stairs, for example, then a bungalow is the perfect option,” he says.
It is also possible to incorporate exercise into your day. Dr. Dulay suggests incorporating simple exercises on a regular basis, such as sitting to standing from a chair, or low-level step-ups.
‘These also help to add strength, mobility and cardiovascular activity to everyday life. We need to continue to challenge our bodies as we get older,” he says.
No stairs? Try these moves
Helen O’Leary, a physiotherapist in London, suggests these three exercises to mimic the effects of stairs. For each exercise, perform three sets of eight to 12 repetitions on each side.
Working with one leg at a time ensures that each side is as strong as the other
Single leg bridge
Working with one leg at a time ensures that each side is as strong as the other.
Lie on your back on the floor, with your feet on the edge of the couch. Lift one leg into the air and then press down into your other foot (on the floor) as you lift your hips toward the ceiling. Keep your hips straight.
To make this more difficult, hold a weight on your hips.
The calf raise squat works your muscles in the same way as pedaling, pushing you against gravity
Squat to calf raise
This works your muscles in the same way as pedaling, pushing you against gravity.
Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
Send your buttocks back, as if you were sitting on a chair, as low as you can comfortably go, then push yourself back up and press through your feet until you are standing upright, lifting your toes to work your calf muscles.
A curtsy squat replicates the strength you need to climb stairs
Curtsy crouch
This mimics the force you need to go up the stairs.
In this version you can get very low while balancing on one leg, so when you push up you work your muscles through an even greater range of motion than when you go up the stairs.
Stand on one leg. Bend the other leg so that your foot is behind you. Now bend on your standing leg and point your bent knee towards the back of your standing ankle. Then push back upright.
