Just five more minutes of sleep and two minutes of moderate exercise, like brisk walking or climbing stairs, can potentially extend your life by a year, as per a recent study. Adding half a serving of vegetables daily could also result in an additional year of life for individuals with poor sleep, physical activity, and dietary habits. The study, conducted over eight years with 60,000 participants and published in The Lancet journal eClinicalMedicine, emphasized the importance of seven to eight hours of sleep, over 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and a healthy diet in extending lifespan by more than nine years.
According to an international team of researchers from the UK, Australia, Chile, and Brazil, the combined impact of sleep, physical activity, and diet surpasses the benefits of each behavior individually. For those with unhealthy habits, achieving an extra year of life through improved sleep alone would require significantly more additional sleep compared to if physical activity and diet were also enhanced. Another study, published in The Lancet, revealed that incorporating just five extra minutes of walking into daily routines could reduce the risk of death by 10% for most adults and by 6% for the least active individuals.
Moreover, findings from a study involving more than 135,000 adults from Norway, Spain, and Australia indicated that reducing sedentary time by 30 minutes daily could potentially lower overall mortality rates. The research suggested a 7% decrease in all deaths if the majority of adults, who spend around 10 hours being sedentary daily, adopted this change. Additionally, the most sedentary adults, averaging 12 hours of sedentary time daily, could witness a 3% reduction in all deaths if they followed suit. Professor Ulf Ekelund from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, emphasized the significant public health benefits associated with even minor improvements in physical activity and reduction in sedentary behavior.
The researchers underscored that while these findings offer valuable insights into public health impacts, they should not be personalized but rather considered in terms of potential benefits for the broader population.
