LONDON, February 29, 2024 — Just five extra minutes of sleep and a couple more minutes of brisk walking each day could add years to your healthy life, according to a major new study. This offers a welcome reprieve for anyone who’s already given up on their New Year’s resolutions.
Small Changes, Significant Gains in Healthy Years
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A large UK study reveals even modest lifestyle adjustments can lead to a longer, healthier life.
- The study followed approximately 590,000 people in the UK over eight years.
- Even small increases in sleep, physical activity, and dietary quality were linked to benefits.
- Combining more substantial changes—like extra sleep and exercise—could add up to four healthy years.
- The findings suggest that improving lifestyle doesn’t require drastic overhauls.
The research, which tracked around 590,000 people in the UK with an average age of 64 over an eight-year period, confirmed that healthier lifestyles are associated with a lower risk of disease, including dementia, and with living longer in good health and independence. The authors reported that even very small changes were associated with such benefits. These included around five additional minutes of sleep per night, two extra minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and modest improvements in diet. Together, these changes were associated with roughly one additional year of healthy life, defined as years lived without major illness or disability that limits daily functioning.
More substantial changes yielded even larger gains. Almost half an hour of extra sleep per night, combined with four additional minutes of exercise per day—totaling nearly half an hour of extra activity per week—along with further dietary improvements, was associated with up to four additional healthy years of life.
Why This Matters, Especially for Women
This is particularly relevant given the disparities in health outcomes between men and women. While women generally live longer than men, those extra years are often spent in poorer health, incurring significant personal and economic costs. Women face a higher risk of dementia, stroke, and heart disease at older ages, as well as conditions that lead to vision loss and bone fractures. These illnesses can diminish quality of life and threaten independence.
Lifestyle changes may also reduce the risk of premature death. A separate analysis, published last year, examined the same lifestyle factors but focused on mortality risk. That analysis revealed that people who followed healthier lifestyle patterns over an eight-year period had a 10% lower risk of death during that time. A combination of 15 extra minutes of sleep per night, two additional minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day, and a healthy diet was linked to a modest reduction in the risk of dying. However, a much larger reduction—64%—was observed among people who slept between seven and eight hours per night, ate a healthy diet, and engaged in between 42 and 103 additional minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week. Crucially, this benefit was only seen when these behaviors occurred together; diet alone had no measurable effect.
Study Strengths and Considerations
One of the key strengths of these studies is that they demonstrate health benefits at very low thresholds of behavioral change. This reduces the likelihood that the results are driven solely by individuals who are already healthier or more motivated, making the findings more applicable to older adults and those with limited capacity to change their routines.
Another strength lies in the use of objective measurements rather than relying on self-reported data. Physical activity and sleep were measured using wearable devices, rather than asking participants to estimate their own behavior. Self-reporting can be unreliable, especially for individuals with memory problems, such as those in the early stages of dementia.
However, there are limitations to consider. The objective measurements were only collected for three to seven days, which may not accurately reflect people’s long-term habits. Wearing activity trackers can sometimes lead to increased exercise while being monitored, but these changes are often short-lived.
These findings underscore that you don’t need a complete lifestyle overhaul to reap significant health benefits. Small, consistent changes can add up to a longer, healthier, and more independent life.
