How much do we need to improve our sleep, physical activity and nutrition to live longer and healthier?
A 2026 study of 59,078 participants looked at the combined relationship between sleep, physical activity and nutrition with:
- Lifespan – life expectancy, or how long we live
- Healthspan – disease-free life expectancy, or how long we live without major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and dementia.
The study found that small improvements across multiple health behaviours may add up.
For people with the least favourable sleep, physical activity and diet patterns, a combined improvement of approximately:
- 5 minutes more sleep per day
- 1.9 minutes more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day
- a 5-point improvement in diet quality – on a 0–100 score where higher is better – for example, an extra ½ serving of vegetables per day or 1.5 extra servings of wholegrains per day
was associated with 1 additional year of life expectancy.
For healthspan, a combined improvement of approximately:
- 24 minutes more sleep per day
- 3.7 minutes more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day
- a 23-point improvement in diet quality
was associated with 4 additional years of disease-free life expectancy.
As always, numbers like these should be interpreted carefully. This study shows associations from a large population cohort – it does not prove that these exact changes will cause these exact results for every person.
But the practical message is still useful:
You do not need to overhaul your whole life overnight.
Small, realistic improvements in sleep, movement and nutrition – especially when combined – may meaningfully support long-term health.
That could look like going to bed slightly earlier, adding a short brisk walk, taking the stairs, adding vegetables to one meal, or choosing wholegrain options more often.
Rather than striving for perfection, the goal should be building habits you can actually sustain.
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References:
- Koemel et al. (2026) PMID: 41768982
