More than 90 percent of U.S. adults have at least one of the health issues that contribute to cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome or CKM. Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome is, as its name implies, a complex disorder made up of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes, three connected conditions that share risk factors and can lead to one another.

A person's initial risk could be hypertension, or high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides, type 2 diabetes or high blood sugar, being overweight or having reduced kidney function. Lifestyle interventions like eating a better diet and exercise are usually the first line of treatment.

The excess weight, high blood pressure and heart problems experienced by people in the later stages of CKM tend to mean that they are unable to participate in the recommended in activity guidelines.

Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome or CKM is categorized using four progressive stages:

  • Stage 1: People with excess weight or pre-diabetes
  • Stage 2: Patients with hypertension, diabetes, high triglycerides or moderate- to high-risk kidney disease
  • Stage 3: Patients with very high-risk kidney disease and increased risk for heart disease or stroke or cardiovascular disease without many symptoms
  • Stage 4: Patients with multiple components of CKM or chronic kidney disease, heart attack or stroke, atrial fibrillation or an irregular heartbeat or peripheral artery disease.

The excess weight, high blood pressure and heart problems experienced by people in the later stages of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome tend to mean that they are unable to participate in the moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity recommended in activity guidelines.

But what about light exercise? Would it help people with CKM live longer, healthier lives? A team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently found that yes, participating in light physical activity did benefit patients in the later stages of CKM.

Light-intensity activity is something people can do without losing their breath, such as yoga, walking, stretching and household chores, Joseph Sartini, lead author on the study and a doctoral candidate in biostatistics at Johns Hopkins, said in an email. Beginning a safe, low-intensity activity program can be as simple as trying to walk and stretch more during the day, he explained.

The researchers analyzed data collected from about 7, 200 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006. The data included information from blood samples and physical exams to determine participants' stage of CKM. Survey data also included readings from accelerometers to measure participants' physical activity levels over several days. The researchers categorized activity levels as light, moderate or vigorous.

The researchers compared the duration of light-intensity activity across all stages of CKM. The total time spent participating in light-intensity activities was highest for participants at what was defined as stage 0 — having no indicators — or stage 1 CKM (almost five hours a day) and lowest for those with stage 4 CKM (three-and-a-half hours).

Each increase of one hour a day in light physical activity reduced the risk of death by 14 to 20 percent.

During the 14-year follow-up period there were 80 deaths among those with stage 0 or 1 CKM; there were 583 deaths among those with stage 2; 565 among those with stage 3; and 571 among those with stage 4 CKM.

Light-intensity activity significantly reduced the risk of death in those with CKM stages 2 through 4: each increase of one hour a day in light physical activity reduced the risk of death by 14 to 20 percent.

The more people at CKM stage 2 through 4 participated in light-intensity activity, the lower their risk of death. Increasing the amount of time by 90 minutes to two hours a day, for example, reduced the risk of death by more than two percent in those with stage 2 CKM and by more than four percent in those with stage 4 CKM.

Light-intensity activity was surprisingly effective, Michael Fang, co-author on the study and an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, told TheDoctor. “For those in the later stages of CKM, the potential health benefits of light-intensity activity are substantial.”

The study is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.