Overview
- An eClinicalMedicine study reports that five extra minutes of sleep, two minutes of moderate activity and half a serving of vegetables a day were associated with about one additional year of life for people with the poorest baseline habits.
- The analysis tracked nearly 60,000 participants for roughly eight years, measuring sleep, diet and physical activity patterns.
- Modest simultaneous changes showed synergistic effects, with 24 more minutes of sleep plus 3.7 minutes of activity linked to about four added years and requiring far less effort than improving one habit alone.
- Participants who slept seven to eight hours, did more than 40 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous activity and ate a healthy diet were associated with over nine additional years of life and health.
- A separate Lancet study of about 135,000 adults found that adding five minutes of walking daily was linked to roughly a 10% lower mortality risk for most adults, and authors emphasize these results are observational and not individualized advice.