Very small daily adjustments—adding 5 minutes of sleep, 2 minutes of physical activity, and a slight improvement in dietary quality—are associated with a significant gain of approximately one year in life expectancy.

noli's read

This advice is based on an observational cohort study published in The Lancet Public Health (2024) involving more than 59,000 participants from the UK Biobank. The study's strength lies in the use of accelerometers to objectively measure sleep and activity, rather than relying solely on self-reported questionnaires, which enhances data reliability. It is important to note that, like any observational study, it identifies a correlation and not a direct cause-and-effect relationship: it cannot be stated with certainty that these precise minutes 'create' years of life. The creator simplifies the statistical model to illustrate the importance of consistency, which is scientifically coherent even if the exact figures should not be interpreted as an individual guarantee. The idea that small changes accumulated over the long term outperform the promises of miracle solutions is widely supported by public health research. In short, although mathematical precision may vary by profile, the general trend is solidly supported by the scientific literature.

the sources

1. 1Stamatakis E et al. 2022
2. 2Stamatakis E et al. 2023