Overview
- A Lancet analysis of device-measured activity in more than 135,000 adults found that adding about five minutes of moderate exercise a day was linked to roughly a 10% reduction in deaths for most adults and about 6% for the least active.
- The same research estimated that cutting daily sedentary time by 30 minutes was associated with around 4.5% to 7% fewer deaths, depending on the cohort.
- An eClinicalMedicine study using UK Biobank data reported that, among people with the poorest habits, about five extra minutes of sleep, roughly two more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity and an additional half-serving of vegetables per day were collectively associated with about one extra year of life.
- In that study, an optimal pattern of seven to eight hours of sleep, more than 40 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous activity and a healthy diet was associated with about 9.35 additional years of life and years in good health compared with the worst patterns.
- Separately, an OHSU analysis in SLEEP Advances linked insufficient sleep to shorter life expectancy at the U.S. county level more strongly than diet, physical activity or social isolation, with only smoking showing a stronger association, and authors across studies stressed these are observational, population-level estimates rather than causal proof or individualized prescriptions.