It has already been suggested to us in a study conducted with firefighters that men who can perform 40 push-ups in a minute are 96 percent less likely to have cardiovascular disease than those who do less than 10.
Another new study from the University Hospital of A Coruña presented at ‘EACVI – Best of Imaging 2020’, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology indicates that climbing four flights of stairs (60 steps) in less than a minute indicates good heart health .
Heart health
The study included 165 patients referred for exercise testing due to known or suspected coronary artery disease. Exercise capacity was measured as metabolic equivalents (MET).
The participants walked or ran on a treadmill, gradually increasing the intensity and continuing until exhaustion. After resting for 15 to 20 minutes, the patients were asked to climb four flights of stairs (60 steps) at a rapid pace without stopping, but also without running, and the time was recorded.
The researchers analyzed the relationship between METs achieved during exercise tests and the time it took to climb four flights of stairs.
Patients who climbed the stairs in less than 40-45 seconds achieved more than 9-10 METs . Previous studies have shown that 10 METs during an exercise test are associated with a low mortality rate (1% or less per year, or 10% in 10 years). However, patients who took 1.5 minutes or more to climb the stairs achieved less than 8 METs, which translates into a mortality rate of 2 to 4 percent per year, or 30 percent in 10 years.