A week into the first lockdown of the pandemic, I vowed I would never set foot in a gym again. This pledge seemed in keeping with the confused fatalism of the moment, but it turned out to be one of the few promises to myself I have ever kept.
Since then I’ve become a fan of evidence suggesting that minimal changes to one’s lifestyle make a big difference to overall health, and this week there was more: a study from the University of Sydney found that even small changes to three key behaviours – sleep, diet, and exercise – can have significant benefits. For those with the least healthy habits, an additional five minutes of sleep, two minutes more exercise and minimal dietary adjustments could add another year of life.
“All those tiny behaviours we change can actually have a very meaningful impact, and they add up over time to make a big difference in our longevity,” said Nicholas Koemel, the lead author of the study.
I’m all for barely perceptible lifestyle adjustments, but how easy are they to incorporate into a typical slothful day?
Sleep
The study’s least healthy cohort got just five-and-a-half hours of sleep a night, and recorded health benefits from an increase of up to three extra hours.
I average six-and-a-half to seven hours, and could certainly benefit from more, but I’m reluctant to move my bedtime because I once spent a week going to bed at 9pm for an article, and it messed with my sleep patterns for weeks afterwards. I decide to tack on the extra minutes at the other end. Inevitably, I wake up at the normal time, will myself back to sleep, and overshoot.
“Having a duvet day?” my wife asks, pulling open the curtains. She is already dressed to go out; it’s even possible she’s just come back.
“I’m extending my life span,” I say. “As we speak.”
While I could get used to rising at 9.30am every day, it does represent a material disruption to routine. Among other things, I miss my second cup of coffee.
Diet
The study used a “diet quality score” based on a 29-item questionnaire. The group with the lowest average score, 36.9 out of 100, needed only a five point top-up (alongside the extra shut-eye and exercise) to increase their lifespan by a year. Five points equates to an extra half-serving of vegetables per day.
I’m hoping this also equates to a single apple I would never normally have, because there’s a bowl of apples right here in the kitchen. It is almost literally low-hanging fruit, and the point is not to make any effort.
Where is this apple supposed to fit into my day? Eleven o’clock seems too early – I’ve only recently had breakfast and I’m already starting to think about lunch. It will have to wait until the afternoon.
My family get there before me: what had been five apples in a bowl in the morning is just two apples by the afternoon. Both are suboptimal; one is soft and bruised, the other seems to be an improbable survivor from last month. I choose the least woolly of the two and duly collect my dietary quality points, but there’s no question: we have strayed into hardship.
Exercise
How do you incorporate an extra two minutes of exercise into a day that contains no real exercise?
I own a posh skipping rope from a previous doomed fitness attempt. It came in a sack bearing the words: “Beast Your Goals”. Skipping seems like an easy way to jam in two minutes of exertion, at least until you’ve done one minute and realise another would be impossible without a day off in between.
I decide the simplest thing to do would be to finish my grudging afternoon dog walk with a two-minute sprint. Unfortunately the dog has never seen me run before, and doesn’t know what to make of it: should she chase, or be chased? In the absence of clear orders she decides it’s safest to try to bring me down like quarry.
Luckily it’s cold and raining, so no one is around to see. I can’t believe I’m going to have to do all this stuff for a whole year.