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Sleep, Exercise, and Diet Changes That Could Add Years to Your Life

March 31, 2025

The most powerful health interventions aren’t flashy—they’re foundational.

Case in point: A new study from the University of Sydney shows that even small, manageable improvements in sleep, physical activity, and diet quality can significantly reduce your risk of death. 

How small and manageable? 

The researchers found that a daily combination of 15 additional minutes of sleep, 1.6 more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and the equivalent of adding 1 to 2 servings of vegetables is linked to a 10 percent lower risk of death over 8 years—regardless of what your habits are like now.

Bigger changes had an even greater impact. In fact, people with the highest levels of sleep, physical activity, and diet quality had a 70 percent lower risk of death compared to those with the lowest levels.

Where do you rank? And what does it take to reach the highest level of benefits seen in the study? Let's break it down to see where you stand.

Inside the Study

The researchers analyzed data from 59,078 UK Biobank participants (median age: 64) who wore activity trackers for seven days and provided dietary information.

Even though sleep, movement, and diet were only tracked for a short period, scientists then followed participants for a median of 8.1 years to see how their baseline habits related to their long-term risk of death. This is a common method in large-scale health research—using a snapshot of behavior to predict future health outcomes (but as you can imagine, this makes it far from ideal). 

Measuring Diet Quality

To measure diet quality, researchers used a 10-item score that gave:

• Higher scores for eating: vegetables, fruits, fish, dairy, whole grains, and vegetable oils (the researchers used vegetable oils as a marker of diet quality, likely because this aligns with conventional guidelines—not necessarily because they’re ideal).
  
  
• Lower scores for eating: refined grains, processed and unprocessed meats, and sugary drinks.
  

Even if you wouldn’t design a diet exactly this way, it’s worth noting that people who score high on this type of scale are generally trying to eat well—choosing whole foods over ultra-processed ones, increasing their intake of nutrient-dense options, and minimizing the worst dietary offenders.

To put all this in real-world terms, the study suggests that improving your diet quality score by 25 points could involve:

• Adding 1/3 cup of cooked vegetables per day
  
  
• Reducing refined grain intake by one serving per week
  
  
• Reducing processed meat consumption by one serving per week
  
  
• Eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages​.

Where do you rank?

The study grouped participants based on their combined sleep, movement, and diet habits, showing that your risk of death is influenced by how you score across all three areas—not just one. 

Here’s a simplified breakdown of what different levels looked like:

As you can see, people in the highest category had the greatest reduction in risk, but even those in the moderate category saw big benefits.

The researchers also analyzed the data to estimate how improving your habits—no matter where you’re starting from—could lower your risk. As we mentioned earlier, small changes—just 15 more minutes of sleep, 1.6 more minutes of movement, and 1 to 2 extra servings of vegetables daily—were linked to a 10% lower risk of death.

Larger improvements led to even greater benefits. The researchers found that increasing sleep by 75 minutes, adding 12.5 more minutes of movement, and making diet improvements—such as eating more whole foods while cutting back on processed foods and sugary drinks—was associated with a 50% lower risk of death.

Key Takeaways 

1. Small changes add up. You don’t need to overhaul your life to experience benefits—even minor improvements in sleep, movement, and diet can meaningfully reduce your risk. The more you improve these aspects of your lifestyle, the more you’re likely to extend your lifespan. 

2. The more of these factors you improve together, the greater the benefit. Someone who gets great sleep but doesn’t move much, or eats well but sleeps poorly, won’t see the same risk reduction as someone who improves across all three.

3. Track your progress. Small changes can be hard to notice in the moment, but tracking gives you hard data on your sleep duration and quality and your physical activity levels. Consider using a wearable device, like an Oura Ring or Apple Watch. Wearables automatically monitor your movement and sleep patterns, making it easier to see what’s working and where you can improve.

​​This study just goes to show: When it comes to your health, small habits add up. And with the right support, those changes become even easier to maintain. That’s exactly why we created the Hyman Hive—a place where members get monthly challenges and a supportive online community to help build better habits together. Join us and start making progress today. Learn More.

References

1. Stamatakis E, Koemel NA, Biswas RK, Ahmadi MN, Allman-Farinelli M, Trost SG, et al. Minimum and optimal combined variations in sleep, physical activity, and nutrition in relation to all-cause mortality risk. BMC Med . 2025 Feb 26;23(1):111.