Moving a little more and eating and sleeping a little better are strongly associated with lower mortality, especially in people who take least care of these healthy habits, two studies published Wednesday in the journals The Lancet and eClinicalMedicine confirm.
Both studies strengthen a thesis for which there is increasingly solid scientific evidence: reducing sedentary lifestyles, even just a little, and improving the quality of diet and sleep has a very positive impact on health itself and on people’s own survival.
The benefits of 5 minutes of extra exercise a day
The Lancet study focuses, in particular, on the impact on people of doing 5 more minutes of moderate physical activity per day, defined as walking, for example, at an average speed of 5 km/hour.
Just those 5 more minutes per day are associated with a 10% reduction in all deaths in most adults (who accumulate about 17 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on average).
And of about 6% in all deaths in the least active people (who perform activity at this intensity on average for about 2 minutes a day).
For its part, reducing sedentary time by 30 minutes per day is associated with an estimated 7% reduction in all deaths by adults who spend 10 sedentary hours per day.
And about 3% if adopted by people who spend 12 hours a day without moving.
In addition, being active at least at a moderate intensity for an additional 10 minutes per day is associated with a 15% reduction in all deaths among most adults and a 9% reduction among the least active.
The study is based on analysis of data from more than 135,000 adults from seven cohorts in Norway, Sweden and the United States, as well as from the UK Biobank, with an average follow-up of 8 years.
Using device-measured physical activity and sedentary time, the researchers estimate the proportion of deaths potentially preventable by small daily increases in moderate to vigorous physical activity or reductions in sedentary time.
“This research consolidates the evidence existing so far with a large population sample, especially relevant in a context in which pharmacological approaches receive more attention than the proven relevance of living conditions,” says Luis Cereijo, a researcher in Public Health at the University of Alcalá de Henares in a reaction to the study.
Sleep, physical activity and nutrition
Meanwhile, research reported in eClinicalMedicine, a journal of The Lancet group, concludes that combining small improvements in sleep, physical activity and diet has an impact on a longer life, especially in people with poorer habits.
An additional five minutes of sleep, two minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (such as brisk walking or stair climbing) and an additional half a serving of vegetables per day could result in an extra year of life for those with the worst rest, exercise and eating habits, the authors conclude.
An optimal combination of these behaviors: sleeping 7 to 8 hours, getting 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day, and eating a healthy diet could mean more than 9 years of additional life expectancy and good health.
The findings of this second investigation are based on the study of nearly 60,000 people from the UK Biobank, recruited between 2006 and 2010, and with an average follow-up of eight years.
Both investigations focus on the overall benefits to society based on data collected in wealthy countries rather than on specific individuals.
The authors stress the need for more such studies in lower-income nations.
Small changes, big benefits
Despite the observational nature of both studies, both reinforce the evidence that very small and realistic changes in habits can have important benefits in reducing all-cause mortality, agree the reactions to these papers reported in Science Media Centre.
Just over a month ago, research reported in Nature Medicine concluded that moderate physical activity can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms by up to seven years in people at risk for the disease.
Last summer, a team of researchers from the CSIC Cajal Neuroscience Center demonstrated in an animal model that moderate physical exercise improves the health of the gut microbiota, which in turn has a very positive impact on the cognitive performance of the brain.
The journal JAMA also published another study a few months ago which found that people who practice physical activity after the age of 60 reduce the risk of death or cardiovascular disease by 30 to 40%.
Filed under: 5 minutes of exercise
With information from EFE
