Moving Just 5 More Minutes Each Day Could Boost Longevity

February 2026 – A new study published in the journal The Lancet found that just an extra 5 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each day could help prevent as much as 10% of deaths.

Adding 5-minute exercise may lower number of deaths by 6%

For this study, researchers analyzed health data from previous studies, encompassing more than 150,000 adult participants from the United States, Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom. All selected studies included physical activity data collected through the use of devices.

“We and many others have shown that higher levels of physical activity is beneficially associated with numerous health outcomes, quality of life and lower risk for premature mortality,” Ulf Ekelund, PhD, professor at the Oslo Research Centre for Physical Activity and Population Health in the Department of Sports Medicine at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Norway, and principal investigator of this study, told Medical News Today.

At the study’s conclusion, the researcher said that adding in an extra 5 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day lowered the number of all deaths by 6% in the least active 20% of participants during an average 8-year follow-up.

“It means that in a population where 100,000 individuals die every year, 6,000 of these might be preventable by a five-minute increase in activity in the least active 20%,” he added.

When researchers applied the 5-minute addition to the entire participant population, the possible prevention of deaths rose to 10%.