A new study has found that doing simple things like walking, gardening, or light chores may help people with heart, kidney, and metabolic problems live longer.
This study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and focused on a group of conditions known as cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome.
CKM syndrome includes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, abnormal cholesterol, being overweight, and having reduced kidney function. These problems are very common. Almost 90% of adults in the United States have at least one of them. When combined, they greatly increase the risk of serious conditions like heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure.
Doctors classify CKM syndrome in stages from 0 to 4. Stage 0 means no risk factors. Stage 1 includes people who are overweight or have pre-diabetes. Stage 2 means having more than one of the CKM issues.
Stage 3 is for people at high risk for heart disease, stroke, or kidney failure, even if they don’t yet show symptoms. Stage 4 includes people who have already had a heart attack or stroke or who have serious kidney disease or blocked arteries.
The new research found that light physical activity—such as walking or doing household chores—was linked to a lower risk of death for people in stages 2, 3, and 4 of CKM syndrome.
The researchers said that while more intense exercises are usually recommended, many people in the later stages of CKM can’t manage those kinds of workouts. That’s why it’s important to know how helpful light movement can be.
The study used data from a large U.S. health survey that included about 7,200 adults. These people wore special devices, called accelerometers, for up to seven days to measure how active they were.
The researchers sorted the activity into different levels—light, moderate, or vigorous—and then looked at how this activity related to the person’s stage of CKM syndrome.
Light activity was described as anything that doesn’t leave you out of breath. Examples include casual walking, stretching, yoga, or doing things around the house. They found that just one extra hour of this light movement each day was linked to a 14% to 20% lower risk of death over 14 years.
The benefit was even greater for those in more serious stages of CKM syndrome. For example, increasing light activity from 90 minutes to two hours a day reduced the risk of death by over 4% in people with stage 4 CKM.
Study author Joseph Sartini, a researcher at Johns Hopkins, said that light activity is a simple and often overlooked way to improve heart health. For people in the later stages of CKM syndrome, it could be a big help.
Experts not involved in the study also said this is an important finding. Bethany Barone Gibbs, a heart health researcher, explained that light activities may help improve circulation, movement, and energy use in the body, which are all good for overall health.
But, she also pointed out that we still need more research in this area to fully understand how light activity helps.
It’s important to remember that this study only shows a link between light activity and living longer. It doesn’t prove that the activity directly caused people to live longer. People who were healthier might have naturally moved more, and those with more serious illness might have moved less. Still, the connection is strong and worth paying attention to.
In the end, the message is clear: even small amounts of movement, like walking or doing chores, can make a difference. For people with CKM syndrome—especially in its more serious stages—light activity may be an easy and effective way to improve their health and possibly extend their lives.
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