Don't have time to get into the complex world of longevity? Well, living longer may be a lot simpler – and cheaper – than cryochambers and £50 supplements… We've all become obsessed with living longer in recent years. But longevity often feels like an exclusive club: few of us have the time or money for red light therapy or blood transfusions, and even the procedures that sound less kooky – like hot and cold therapy and fancy supplements – can still take up a lot of time, effort and cash.
But living longer doesn't necessarily have to come with a big physical or time cost – science suggests that all you need is seven minutes per day.
A study , published in The Lancet , included data from 59,078 men and women from the UK Biobank (a long-term study that includes data from half a million people) recruited between 2006 and 2010.
For a week, participants wore smart watches that tracked sleep and exercise. Participants also shared their daily diet, which was rated using a quality score. This took into account what vegetables, fruits, grains, meats, fish, dairy, oils and sugar-sweetened beverages they consumed. The higher the score they were given, from 0 – 100, the higher the quality.
Lifespan and healthspan were then estimated by looking at the rate of deaths experienced (and the type of deaths) over the following eight years. Relevant deaths included dying from heart disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, dementia and respiratory diseases.
The researchers found that the most meaningful health changes you could make were to sleep, physical activity and diet, and that these changes only had to be minor to have a big impact.
In fact, if you add just five minutes of sleep per day and two minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise (as simple as a brisk walk or climbing the stairs), plus half a serving of veg, you could add a full year to your life. That's just seven minutes of changes added to your day.
Just 5 minutes of extra sleep a day can make a difference
This calculation was based on the least healthy participants who slept for around five hours each day, engaged in five minutes of exercise and scored around 35 on the dietary scale when compared with participants with marginally improved scores.
The researchers also revealed the secret to improving healthspan – ie the amount of your life you spend in good health – by four years. For this, you need either an extra 24 minutes of sleep per night, 3.7 additional minutes of exercise per day or a 23-point increase in diet quality. This is the equivalent of an additional serving of vegetables per day, a serving of whole grains per day and two servings of fish per week.
There were, however, a few drawbacks to the study. For example, the average age was 64 years, so we don't know if five minutes of sleep and two minutes of exercise would have the same impact on younger people. The food was also self-reported, which isn't always 100% accurate (people often forget to add a snack or meal to their calculations here and there). This research also focused on the health of those who had the least amount of sleep, exercise and nutritious meals – and so the impact may not be as dramatic for those who already sleep for eight hours a night, exercise regularly and eat well.
However, we already know that from countless other studies that getting good sleep, eating well and exercising regularly are all vital to living longer lives. For example, recent research confirmed poor sleep had a more significant impact on decreased life expectancy than other lifestyle factors, including diet, physical activity and social connection. This is because sleep helps clear our brain of waste, supports the immune system, supports heart health and promotes bone health.
Being active is also important for longevity, particularly when it comes to heart health. Ruth Goss, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, says: "Being active plays a key role in heart health. Anything that gets you moving and elevates your heart rate counts – and walking is a great way for everyone to weave exercise into their daily routines." She suggests adding five or 10 extra minutes of walking to your day on your lunch break, walking to the next stop before catching a bus or having a meeting on foot instead of sitting at your desk. "For anyone looking to up their daily step counts, British Heart Foundation's ' Walk for Hearts ' challenge this February is a great way to set a walking goal," she adds.
What you eat has also been proven time and time again to have an impact on your longevity, and certain diets, eg ones that contain more plants and less meat (such as the Mediterranean diet ), are often hailed as helping us live longer, healthier lives.
So, whether you look at the new or old research, it's clear that eating more nutritious meals, sleeping enough and exercising regularly will have a positive effect, and this study is proof that starting small can still have a tangible impact on our long-term health.