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The key to living longer is small changes in sleep, diet and exercise, new research finds

A few extra minutes of sleep per night, plus a few more vegetables or grains and a little bit more exercise per day, can go a long way to improve health and longevity.
Justine Goode / NBC News; Getty Images
By Lindsey Leake
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If your goal is to be healthier in 2026, you don’t have to overhaul your habits, follow a strict diet or spend hours at the gym.

Taking baby steps to collectively improve three of the most important behaviors — sleep, exercise and nutrition — may not only boost health but also lengthen your life, new research shows.

The changes could be as basic as a few extra minutes of sleep per night, plus a few more vegetables or grains and a few extra minutes of exercise per day.

Scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia analyzed the behaviors of more than 59,000 older adults using the UK Biobank, a massive database that began recruiting participants in 2005 and collects data about health, lifestyle and demographics.

For one week, Biobank participants wore wrist devices that tracked their sleep and movements, in which moderate to vigorous physical activity counted as exercise.

Based on participants’ self-reported eating habits, they were awarded diet quality scores ranging from zero to 100, with a higher score indicating a healthier diet. For example, eating at least three servings of fruit per day earned the maximum 10 points in the fruit category, while refraining from sugary drinks earned the maximum 10 points in the beverage category.

People with the poorest health habits were used as a reference point. They slept 5.5 hours per night, exercised 7.3 minutes per day and had a diet quality score of 36.9.

While anyone may benefit from small lifestyle changes, the study, published Tuesday in the journal eClinicalMedicine, found that people with the poorest health habits could add a year of life if they got a combined:

  • 5 extra minutes of sleep per night and
  • 1.9 extra minutes of exercise per day and
  • a 5-point increase in diet quality score, such as an extra half-serving of vegetables or 1.5 servings of whole grains per day.

The unhealthy group that didn't or couldn't make improvements in all three areas could see the same one-year increase in lifespan if they got either:

  • 25 extra minutes of sleep per night or
  • 2.3 extra minutes of exercise per day or
  • a 35.5-point increase in diet quality score.

“All those tiny behaviors we change can actually have a very meaningful impact, and they add up over time to make a big difference in our longevity,” said lead study author Nicholas Koemel, a registered dietitian and research fellow in the university’s department of physical activity, lifestyle and population health.

After a median follow-up period of just over eight years, Koemel and his colleagues looked at how many participants had died or developed medical conditions including cancer, dementia, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. They defined healthspan as additional years lived free of those diseases.

People with the poorest health habits could increase their healthspans by four years, the study showed, if they got a combined:

  • 24 extra minutes of sleep per night and
  • 3.7 extra minutes of exercise per day and
  • a 23-point increase in diet quality score, such as an extra cup of vegetables per day, a serving of whole grains per day and two servings of fish per week.

While no individual change in sleep, exercise or diet would increase lifespan by 10 years for the least healthy group, the following combined changes were associated with an extra decade of life:

  • 180 extra minutes of sleep per night and
  • 24.9 extra minutes of exercise per day and
  • a 35-point increase in diet quality score.

“The message here should not necessarily be that making these small tweaks is a silver bullet,” Koemel said. “It’s more so about where we take that first step and trying to look at how we can make sustainable opportunities that are more achievable for some people.”

In a similar study also published Tuesday, in the journal The Lancet, researchers found that for most adults, sitting 30 fewer minutes a day was associated with a 7% decrease in deaths over an average follow-up period of eight years.

What’s more, an additional five minutes of moderately to vigorously intense daily exercise was linked to 10% fewer deaths, while an additional 30 minutes of light physical activity was linked to 5% fewer deaths.

The second study, led by scientists at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo, involved more than 135,000 adults in the U.K., the U.S., Norway and Sweden, and it included UK Biobank data. The authors wrote that they hope their work may influence public health policies.

Sleep gains and losses add up

Nearly 37% of U.S. adults don’t get the recommended minimum seven hours of sleep per night, according to 2022 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lack of sleep can cause short- and long-term mental and physical health problems, from depression and trouble focusing to heart disease and obesity. Impacts to your sleep are cumulative, said Dr. Maha Alattar, medical director of the VCU Health Center for Sleep Medicine in Richmond, Virginia.

“Adding five minutes may not help you that one day, but ... at the end of the month, it will add up to a lot of hours,” said Alattar, who wasn’t involved in either study. “That can translate to long-term better health because I look at it the other way, and that’s how we look at sleep deprivation.”

Rather than focus on sleeping eight hours a night, Alattar said, she advises patients to add an extra 30 minutes to whatever nightly amount of sleep they’ve been getting. That small change is a manageable way to help get them on the right track.

In the Sydney study, sleeping more than 7.5 hours a night alone wasn’t associated with increased life expectancy.

Move more to live longer

Glenn Gaesser, a professor of exercise physiology at the Arizona State University College of Health Solutions, wasn’t surprised by the Sydney study results. He said they back up previous research showing an association between cumulative exercise changes and increased life expectancy.

“Those going from zero to 10 minutes a day of walking will experience more benefit than someone who’s going from 30 to 40,” said Gaesser, who wasn’t involved in either study. “Beyond 40, you get a law of diminishing returns.”

The Sydney study showed that exercise benefits peaked at 50 minutes per day, meaning exercising beyond that wasn’t linked to a longer lifespan.

Fitness habits — or the lack thereof — are hard to change, Gaesser said: “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” Even so, the science suggests a little change goes a long way.

“It doesn’t require a mass overhaul of your lifestyle to achieve health benefits,” he said.

Focus on small nutritional improvements

There are notable limitations to the Sydney study. The diet data was self-reported, which is known to be notoriously inaccurate, and the observational research was based on relatively brief recordings of sleep and exercise.

Dr. David D’Alessio, chief of the division of endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition at the Duke University School of Medicine, said, “It’s really hard to be that precise when you take a 30,000-foot view.”

Sleep, exercise and diet “would need to be tested in an interventional way to be able to say little bits really do make a difference, a half a cup of vegetables does make a difference,” said D’Alessio, who wasn’t part of either study.

However, D’Alessio appreciates how hard it is to change health habits. “The thing I always push is you gotta lose 5 pounds before you lose 10 pounds.”

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Lindsey Leake

Lindsey Leake is an award-winning health journalist and contributor to NBC News. She holds an M.A. in science writing from Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. in journalism and digital storytelling from American University and a B.A. from Princeton University.