What is the role of exercise in chronic kidney disease?

Physical activity consists of all body movements during daily living, is supported by skeletal muscles and results in energy expenditure. Exercise is a subset of planned, structured and repetitive physical activity aimed at improving body and organ/system fitness. Basically, being physically active and performing physical exercise have many benefits, and health organizations strongly recommend that healthy adults engage in at least 150 min of moderate-intensity [3–6 metabolic equivalent units (METs)] or 75 min of vigorous-intensity (6–9 METs) aerobic physical activity along the week to reduce cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes, depression and mortality. In the worldwide population, physical activity levels are much lower than recommended, and it has been estimated that inactivity is responsible for 6% of coronary heart disease, 7% of Type 2 diabetes, 10% of breast cancer and 10% of colon cancer [1]. Physical inactivity is also highly prevalent in patients with established chronic diseases and is...