Two studies by researchers at the University of Sydney have shown that small changes to daily habits can have significant impact on long-term health and longevity. 

Research led Dr Nicholas Koemel from the Mackenzie Wearables Hub at the Charles Perkins Centre showed that a few combined tweaks to sleep, diet and physical activity can increase an individual’s lifespan and years spent in good health. 

The study, published in eClinicalMedicine, showed that by getting an additional five minutes of sleep, two minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (such as brisk walking or taking the stairs) and an additional half serving of vegetables per day could lead to an extra year of life for those who currently had poor sleep, physical activity and dietary habits. 

Getting 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, compared to those with the worst sleep, physical activity and dietary habits. 

Dr Koemel said: “Sleep, physical activity and nutrition are all factors known to be linked to healthier lives, but they are usually studied in isolation.

“By investigating these factors in combination, we can see that even small tweaks have a significant cumulative impact over the long-term.” 

The study looked at almost 60,000 people in the UK Biobank cohort recruited between 2006-2010 and followed for an average of eight years. Sleep and physical activity were measured using wrist-worn accelerometers over seven days, while diet quality was assessed via a validated questionnaire and given a Diet Quality Score. 

Meanwhile, a study in the Lancet co-led by Professor Melody Ding from the School of Public Health found that small increases in daily physical activity had an impact on early mortality. 

Studying data from more than 135,000 adults across seven cohorts in Norway, Sweden, and the United States, as well as the UK Biobank, Professor Ding and her team found that, for the majority (80 percent) of adults, walking an extra five minutes a day at a moderate pace would reduce the chance of an early death by 10 percent. 

The majority (80 percent) of adults spend 10 hours being sedentary per day and the study also found that reducing sedentary time by 30 minutes per day for these adults was associated with an estimated 7 percent reduction in all deaths. 

Professor Ding said: “Inactive lifestyles are associated with a range of health problems and this study shows the huge public health benefit from even small increases in physical activity.”

Research 

Koemel, N., Stamatakis, E., et al. ‘Minimum combined sleep, physical activity, and nutrition variations associated with lifeSPAN and healthSPAN improvements: a population cohort study’ (eClinicalMedicine, 2026)

DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103741

Ding, D., et al., ‘Deaths potentially averted by small changes in physical activity and sedentary time: an individual participant data meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies’ (Lancet, 2026) 

DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)02219-6

Declaration 

eClinicalMedicine: 

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis is a paid consultant and holds equity in Complement 1, a US-based startup whose products and services relate to physical activity promotion and other lifestyle changes. 

UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing anonymised genetic, lifestyle and health information from half a million UK participants. UK Biobank’s database, which includes blood samples, heart and brain scans and genetic data of the volunteer participants, is globally accessible to approved researchers who are undertaking health-related research that’s in the public interest.

UK Biobank’s resource was opened for research use in April 2012. Since then, 30000 researchers from 100 countries have been approved to use it and more than 5000 peer-reviewed papers that used the resource have now been published.

Lancet:

Professor Ding declares no funding and no conflicts of interest.