- Small improvements in sleep, activity and diet together were linked to longer healthspan.
- Just minutes more sleep or movement daily showed measurable longevity benefits.
- Combining habits reduced how much change was needed in any one area.
What if just a few small changes to your daily routine could help you live not only longer, but healthier? A new study shines a spotlight on SPAN behaviors—sleep, physical activity and nutrition—and explores how they can work together to make a real difference in our health.
Instead of focusing on each habit in isolation, researchers looked at the power of making modest improvements in all three at once. Their findings reveal that combining small steps across sleep, movement and diet can do more than you might expect, potentially adding years to your life and boosting the number of those years spent in good health.
Poor sleep, lack of physical activity and poor nutrition are each well-known contributors to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and dementia. But while these factors have often been addressed one at a time, this study, published in eClinical Medicine, part of the Lancet Discovery Science, suggests that even modest, simultaneous improvements in all three can make a bigger impact, potentially extending both the years we live and the years we enjoy good health.
How Was This Study Conducted?
To understand the relationship between SPAN behaviors and longevity, researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a massive biomedical database. The study focused on a core group of 59,078 adults ages 40 to 69.
What made this study unique was its move away from relying solely on self-reported surveys, which can often be inaccurate. Instead, researchers used advanced technology to get precise measurements. Between 2013 and 2015, participants wore wrist accelerometers (similar to a Fitbit or Apple Watch) for seven days to objectively track their sleep duration and physical activity levels.
Dietary habits were assessed using a detailed questionnaire that asked participants about their consumption of commonly eaten foods over the past year. This data was used to calculate a Diet Quality Score based on the intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish and other food groups. Researchers then followed up with these participants for a median period of about eight years, tracking health outcomes including incidence of disease and mortality.
What Did This Study Find?
The findings of the study revealed that you don’t need to run marathons or sleep 10 hours a night to see benefits. Instead, small, concurrent improvements across all three areas can yield significant results.
The researchers found a synergistic effect: when you improve sleep, activity and diet together, the “dose” required for each is much smaller than if you tried to get the same benefit from just one behavior.
Specifically, the study identified the “minimum theoretical combined improvements” needed to gain one additional year of life. This amounted to just:
To achieve even greater benefits—adding approximately four years to your healthspan (years free of disease)—the changes were still fairly manageable:
- 24 extra minutes of sleep per day
- 3.7 extra minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity per day
- A 23-point dietary improvement (roughly another 1 cup of vegetables and one serving of whole grains per day, plus two servings of fish per week).
It’s the combination of these smaller, achievable changes across sleep, activity and nutrition that produces the most significant health benefits. Focusing on only one area would mean much larger changes are needed to see a comparable effect, but when these behaviors are improved together—even by a little—their positive impact adds up and becomes much greater than the sum of each part.
If you tried to achieve these benefits by focusing on just one area, the changes needed would be much greater. For instance, if someone were to focus solely on sleep to gain 4 additional years of life, they would need to sleep approximately 60 extra minutes per day, according to this study.
Limitations of the Study
While these results are encouraging, there are some limitations to consider.
First, while sleep and activity were tracked with devices, nutrition data was self-reported. Memory can be imperfect, and people sometimes overestimate how healthy their diet is. Second, the dietary data was collected a few years before the sleep and activity data, meaning there was a time lag between measurements.
Third, the UK Biobank participants tend to be healthier and wealthier than the general population, which means the results might not perfectly apply to everyone in every community, as the study authors acknowledge. Finally, as this is an observational study, it proves correlation, not causation. There is always a possibility of “reverse causation,” where underlying health issues cause poor sleep or inactivity rather than the other way around, though the researchers did perform rigorous statistical checks to minimize this risk.
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
The most powerful takeaway from this research is feasibility. This study shifts the focus to “micro-habits.” It suggests that we don’t need to strive for perfection in one area. If you can’t manage a full eight hours of sleep, getting just a few more minutes helps—especially if you pair it with a brisk walk to the bus stop and adding a side of broccoli to your dinner.
This study also supports a holistic approach to health. If you are struggling to increase your exercise, you might get a similar health boost by focusing on stabilizing your sleep schedule or swapping a cookie snack for a piece of fruit. The synergy is the secret sauce; these behaviors support each other. Better sleep often leads to more energy for exercise, and physical activity can help regulate appetite and improve sleep quality.
Our Expert Take
This large-scale analysis of more than 59,000 adults highlights the power of SPAN behaviors: sleep, physical activity and nutrition. By using objective tracking devices, researchers demonstrated that modest, combined improvements in these three areas are associated with extending both lifespan and healthspan.
The message is clear and attainable: you don’t have to overhaul your entire life overnight. Small adjustments—like a few more minutes of movement, a slightly earlier bedtime and a few more vegetables—when done together, can add up to years of healthier living. It turns out that when it comes to longevity, the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.
