WHY 5 MINUTES CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Study shows 5 extra minutes of sleep, 2 minutes of brisk walking can add a year to life

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Studies show how small improvements in physical activity — two to five minutes or more of brisk walking — and sleep and diet can meaningfully impact one's lifespan and reduce deaths in a population, offering a more feasible starting place for making healthy behavioural changes.

An increase of five minutes of sleep, two minutes of brisk walking and an additional half a serving of vegetables per day could add a year of life for those with the worst sleep, physical activity and dietary habits, according to a new study published in The Lancet's eClinicalMedicine journal. The findings suggest that when combined, small improvements in sleep, physical activity and diet could result in meaningful changes to lifespan, offering a sustainable, more feasible starting place for making behavioural changes, an international team of researchers from the UK, Australia, Brazil, Chile said.