Want to live longer? Paying a little more attention to your sleep and your food today helps you stick around for many more birthdays.
Adding just five extra minutes of brisk walking everyday drops your risk of mortality by 10%.
Even if you move only for two minutes a day right now, upping that by five minutes cuts your risk of death by 6%. And for those who sit a lot, reducing 30 minutes of sitting time drops the risk by 7%.(1✔ ✔Trusted Source
Deaths potentially averted by small changes in physical activity and sedentary time: an individual participant data meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
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These striking findings come from a new study published in The Lancet.
The research shows that the most dramatic health improvements happen when inactive people start making small changes. Every minute really does count and significantly improves every part of your health.
Combining these five minutes of activity with a bit more sleep and a healthier diet works to amplify your lifespan. Small changes, massive rewards.
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Here’s the 5-minute lifesaver: Combined #lifestyle changes like extra 5-minute #walking, sound sleep, and having #nutritious_diet per day could add one extra year of life. These tiny boosts in daily movement slash your risk of early death. #physicalactivity #sleepquality #healthy_aging #publichealth
Device-Measured Data is Changing Everything We Know About Exercise and Mortality
Current estimates of preventable deaths from increased physical activity and reduced time spent inactive rely on self-reported activity data and assume that people must meet WHO guidelines, overlooking the health benefits of even small increases in physical activity.
Previous evidence from device-measured physical activity suggests that not only moderate-to-vigorous activity (such as walking at a moderate pace), but also light-intensity activity and reduced time spent sedentary, may be associated with a lower risk of death.
However, the overall effect of these smaller, achievable changes on the population-level risk of death had not previously been studied.
How 10 Minutes of Daily Movement Can Slash Population-Level Mortality by 15%
The new study analysed data from more than 135,000 adults across seven cohorts in Norway, Sweden, and the United States, as well as the UK Biobank, with follow-ups averaging eight years.
Using device-measured physical activity and time spent sedentary, the researchers estimated the proportion of deaths potentially preventable by small daily increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity or reductions in sedentary time.
The study also found that being active at least at moderate intensity for an additional 10 minutes per day was associated with a 15% reduction in all deaths among most adults and a 9% reduction among the least active adults.
A one-hour reduction in sedentary time among the majority of adults was associated with a 13% reduction in all deaths, and a 6% reduction among the least active adults. The estimated proportions of preventable deaths due to the same increases in time at moderate intensity and reductions in sedentary time in the UK Biobank cohort were lower but still substantial.
Applying Population-Level Insights to Personal Health is Essential
The authors note that, as with any observational study, residual confounding or unmeasured factors, such as mobility limitations could influence results, and the associations cannot definitively establish causation.
The authors say that these estimates provide important evidence on the wide range of public health impacts associated with even small positive changes in physical activity and inactivity.
However, they emphasize that these findings are meant to highlight potential benefits for the population as a whole and should not be used as personalised advice, such as specific exercise recommendations for individuals.
More research using wearable activity trackers is needed in low- and middle-income countries, where people’s ages, activity levels, and health risks may differ significantly from those in this study.
Reference:
- Deaths potentially averted by small changes in physical activity and sedentary time: an individual participant data meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies – (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)02219-6/abstract)
Source-Eurekalert