How sleep, walking increase life span

CHENNAI: Just five more minutes of sleep and two minutes of moderate exercise like brisk walking or climbing stairs can add a year to your life, according to a study.

Adding half a serving of vegetables per day more could also lead to an extra year of life for people with the worst existing sleep, physical activity, and dietary habits, according to the study that followed 60,000 people for eight long years.

The study, published in The Lancet journal eClinicalMedicine, suggested that seven to eight hours of sleep per day, more than 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, and a healthy diet were associated with over nine years of additional lifespan and years spent in good health.

In a separate study, published in the journal The Lancet, researchers from Norway, Spain, and Australia showed that adding just five minutes of extra walking to the daily routine can cut down the risk of death in the majority of adults by 10 per cent.

It will also help the least active adults to reduce their risk of death by around six per cent. The researchers cautioned that the findings should not be used as personalised advice; rather, they highlighted the potential benefits for the population as a whole.