Combined shifts in sleep, exercise and diet may significantly extend your lifespan and you can spend years in good health, according to a new study published in The Lancet.
Researchers from the University of Sydney analyzed data from thousands of older adults, using it to calculate individual sleep, exercise and diet scores and examine how they related to life span. A pattern emerged: better sleep, increased exercise and healthier diets were linked to a significantly longer life expectancy.
“All those tiny behaviors we change can actually have a very meaningful impact, and they add up over time to make a big difference in our longevity,” lead study author Nicholas Koemel told NBC News.
Just an additional five minutes of sleep, two minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise like brisk walking or taking the stairs, and an extra half a serving of vegetables a day can add a year of life for people who fare the worst in these habits, according to the study.
Researchers assessed data from almost 60,000 people in the UK Biobank cohort recruited between 2006 and 2010 and followed for an average of eight years.
Then, using a statistical model, they estimated the lifespans and years spent in good health for the participants across different variations of behaviour.
The researchers found that the most optimal combination of behaviours – seven to eight hours of sleep per day, more than 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day, and a healthy diet – could lead to over nine years of additional lifespan.
“A combined improvement of 24 minutes per day of sleep, 3.7 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day, and a 23-point DQS increase was associated with 4 additional years,” they said.
DQS, or diet quality score, was based on the intake of vegetables, fruits, grains, meats, fish, dairy, oils, and sugar-sweetened beverages.
The researchers found that the combined effect of sleep, physical activity, and diet was larger than the sum of the individual behaviours.
For example, those with the unhealthiest sleep, exercise and dietary habits would require five times the amount of additional sleep per day – 25 minutes – than if they improved their physical activity and diet as well by a small amount, the study noted.
“This study demonstrates that small, combined improvements in sleep, exercise, and diet are associated with theoretical increases in both lifespan and healthspan that are clinically meaningful and relevant to population health,” the researchers wrote.
They cautioned, however, that additional studies were needed to examine if and how these findings could translate into clinical practice.
“These findings inform future trials and public health interventions by highlighting a pragmatic approach to improving population health that involves combined modest behavioural changes,” they wrote.
Inputs with The Independent
