Highlights
- Just five minutes extra sleep, two minutes brisk walking and half serving of vegetables daily could add one year to lifespan.
- Optimal combination of seven to eight hours sleep and 40 minutes daily exercise associated with nine additional years of life.
- Five minutes more daily physical activity linked to 10 per cent reduction in deaths amongst majority of adults.
Small daily improvements in sleep, physical activity and diet could add years to people's lives, according to groundbreaking research offering a more achievable approach to healthy lifestyle changes.
A study published in The Lancet's eClinicalMedicine journal found that increasing sleep by five minutes, brisk walking by two minutes and consuming an additional half serving of vegetables per day could add a year of life for those with the poorest health habits.
An international research team from the UK, Australia, Brazil and Chile analysed data from nearly 60,000 UK Biobank participants recruited between 2006 and 2010, who were followed for approximately eight years.
A sub-group wore wrist devices between 2013 and 2015 measuring physical activity levels.
The study defined the worst behavioural combination as five-and-a-half hours sleep daily, under 10 minutes physical activity and poor diet quality.
The most optimal combination, seven to eight hours sleep, at least 40 minutes moderate to vigorous physical activity daily and a healthy diet was associated with over nine years of additional lifespan and healthy years.
Physical activity impact
Researchers highlighted that combined improvements deliver greater benefits than individual changes.
To gain one year of lifespan through sleep alone, people with unhealthiest habits would require 25 additional minutes daily, compared to just five minutes when combined with improved physical activity and diet.
"A minimum combined improvement of five minutes per day of sleep, 1.9 minutes per day MVPA (moderate to vigorous physical activity), and a five-point increase in diet quality score (e.g., additional [half] serving of vegetables per day or additional 1.5 servings of whole grains per day) was associated with one additional year of lifespan," the authors wrote.
A separate study published in The Lancet, analysing data from over 135,000 adults across Norway, Sweden, the US and UK Biobank followed for eight years, found five minutes extra daily moderate physical activity could reduce deaths by 10 per cent among most adults and six per cent among the least active.
Reducing sedentary time by 30 minutes daily was linked to a seven per cent drop in all deaths for adults averaging 10 hours sedentary time.
Greatest benefits occurred when the least active 20 per cent increased activity by just five minutes daily.
Researchers emphasised findings represent population-level benefits rather than personalised medical advice, with further research needed in low and middle-income countries.
PTI
