Just five extra minutes of sleep and two minutes of moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking or climbing stairs, can add up to a year to a person’s life, according to a study released on Wednesday. The study also found that adding half a serving of vegetables to the daily diet could similarly extend life expectancy by a year among people with the poorest sleep, physical activity and dietary habits.
The research tracked nearly 60,000 individuals over eight years. Published in The Lancet journal eClinicalMedicine, it reported that getting seven to eight hours of sleep a day, engaging in more than 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and following a healthy diet were linked to more than nine additional years of life and years spent in good health.
In a separate study published in The Lancet, researchers from Norway, Spain and Australia found that adding just five minutes of walking to daily routines could lower the risk of death by 10 per cent for most adults. For the least active adults, this increase in activity was associated with around a 6 per cent reduction in mortality risk.
Based on data from over 135,000 adults, the study also showed that cutting sedentary time by 30 minutes a day was linked to a 7 per cent reduction in all-cause mortality if adopted by most adults, who spend about 10 hours a day inactive. Among the most sedentary adults, who average 12 hours of inactivity daily, such a change could prevent around 3 per cent of all deaths.
Researchers cautioned that the findings should not be used as personalised advice but instead highlight potential benefits at a population level.
