A recently published study has shown how making small lifestyle changes, some that only take minutes a day, could add years to your life!
The study shines a spotlight on what scientists refer to as “SPAN” behaviors—sleep, physical activity and nutrition—and explores how they can work together to make a real difference in our health.
Instead of focusing on each habit in isolation, researchers looked at the power of making modest improvements in all three at once. Their findings reveal that combining small steps across sleep, movement and diet can do more than you might expect, potentially adding years to your life and boosting the number of those years spent in good health.
To understand the relationship between SPAN behaviors and longevity, researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a massive biomedical database. The study focused on a core group of 59,078 adults ages 40 to 69.
Key Takeaways From This Study:
The findings of the study revealed that you don’t need to run marathons or sleep 10 hours a night to see benefits. Specifically, the study identified the “minimum theoretical combined improvements” needed to gain one additional year of life. This amounted to just:
- Five extra minutes of sleep per day
- 1.9 extra minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (like brisk walking) per day
- A 5-point increase in diet quality (equivalent to eating half a serving of vegetables per day).
In addition, the researchers concluded:
- Small improvements in sleep, activity and diet together were linked to longer healthspan.
- Just minutes more sleep or movement daily showed measurable longevity benefits.
- Combining habits reduced how much change was needed in any one area.
You can read the complete study which was published in the journal eClinical Medicine, by clicking on the link.