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Research Recap: Could 5 extra minutes of sleep help you live longer?

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A person sleeping and reaching for alarm clockWant to live longer? Research from the University of Sydney in Australia suggest that small changes to your sleep, physical activity and nutrition can have an impact on both your lifespan and healthspan.

Background

In this study, over 59,000 male and female adults living in the UK wore a wrist accelerometer which tracked their sleep and moderate to vigorous physical activity for 7 days.

Studies typically collect self-reported information about sleep and physical activity. This was the first study to measure these factors using an external device which may be more accurate. Nutrition was still measured with a questionnaire about the participants’ self-reported intake of vegetables, fruits, grains, meats, fish, dairy, oils and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Researchers measured the participants’ health for 8 years and wanted to find the minimum amount of sleep, physical activity and nutrition needed to have a benefit on lifespan and healthspan.

Lifespan is defined as the total number of years a person lives whereas healthspan is the number of years that a person lives in good health, free from chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. 

What the study found

The researchers used a baseline of 5.5 hours of sleep a day, 7.3 minutes of physical activity a day, and below average eating habits. From this baseline, getting 5 extra minutes of sleep per day AND an extra 2 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity per day AND eating just an extra ½ serving of veggies a day (or an extra 1½ servings of whole grains a day) was associated with 1 extra year of lifespan. All of these extra behaviours needed to be done every day.

Compared to the baseline, healthspan appeared to increase by 4 years when participants did all of the following: slept 24 extra minutes a day, was physically active for 4 extra minutes a day, ate 1 extra cup of veggies, ate 1 extra serving of whole grains, and ate 2 servings of fish per week.

The most optimal combination was getting 7.2-8 hours of sleep per day, more than 42 minutes of daily moderate-vigorous physical activity along with eating a high quality diet. This lifestyle pattern was associated with an extra 9 years of lifespan and another 9.5 years of healthspan.

Limitation of this study

 While this study is interesting, there are a few things to question.

  • The wrist device was only worn for 7 days. Is that long enough to get an accurate reflection of sleep and physical activity habits?
  • The nutrition data was collected 3-9 years before the sleep and physical activity data. Could the participant’s nutrition intake have changed over the 5 years (I would guess yes!) and if so, how would this have changed the results?
  • The researchers followed the participants’ lifespan and health status for 8 years. Is that long enough for a chronic condition to develop?

The researchers also acknowledge that these results are estimated theoretical extrapolations from the data and are not direct observations or direct causes.

How you can use this info

There’s no doubt that sleep, physical activity and good nutrition are important pillars to a healthy lifestyle. Many studies typically look at each of these pillars separately. This study was different in that it looked at how changes to sleep, physical activity and nutrition may work together to potentially delay the onset of chronic disease and increase lifespan. The study tried to find a minimum amount of these healthy behaviours that could have a benefit.

Here’s my advice. Go ahead and hit the snooze button, but don’t use this data as an exact mathematical formula for longevity and health. Instead, it’s your overall lifestyle habits that matter. Aim to get more regular and restorative sleep. Find enjoyable ways to be active every day. Manage stress. Don’t smoke. Go easy on alcohol. And nourish your body by eating nutritious, delicious, wholesome foods.

Reference

Koemel NA, Biswas RK, Ahmadi MN et al. Minimum combined sleep, physical activity and nutrition variations associated with lifespan and healthspan improvements: a population cohort study. eClinicalMedicine, 103741 doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103741

5-Ingredient Beef Stew

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Two bowls of beef stew with carrots, potatoes and a couple of pieces of bread in the bowl.

5-Ingredient Beef Stew

This recipe comes from my chef dad. It's the easiest beef stew you'll ever make, and it only uses 5 simple ingredients. The condensed tomato soup gives the stew a nice, slightly sweet flavour.
Print Recipe
Course Dinner
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams beef shank (may also use beef stewing cubes)
  • 2 carrots, chopped in 1/4 inch circles
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 1 can (284 mL) condensed tomato soup
  • 2 medium sized potatoes

Instructions
 

  • Fill a medium sized saucepan or pot with 6 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil.
  • Meanwhile, cut beef into 1/2 inch chunks. Add beef chunks to the boiling water for 3 minutes. (This blanching helps to reduce the gaminess of the meat and remove some of the impurities.) Drain and rinse the beef chunks under cold water.
  • Add drained beef chunks to a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Add carrots and celery. Add the can of condensed tomato soup plus one full can of water.
  • Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 20-30 minutes (still covered), stirring occasionally. The beef should be almost fork tender.
  • Meanwhile, scrub and peel potatoes. Dice into 1/2 inch pieces.
  • Add diced potatoes to the stew and continue to simmer, covered for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
  • Serve with crusty bread or over rice if desired.
Keyword Beef Stew, Easy Beef Stew, Stew

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