Daily step counts and reaching at least 150 minutes a week of exercise — lots of exercise guidance focuses on hitting specific step, mile or time targets. But for many people, especially those who are least active, these goals can feel daunting and out of reach.
Can you commit to walk for five minutes daily? Instead of asking what happens when people meet ideal exercise benchmarks, researchers examined what might change if people made small, realistic shifts in how they move and how much time they spend sitting.
The findings, published recently in The Lancet journal, suggest that even modest changes could have meaningful implications for your health and longevity.
I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen about what the study found and how it influences what we think about movement in daily life. Wen is an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University. She previously was Baltimore’s health commissioner.
CNN: What’s unusual about this new study of exercise?
Dr. Leana Wen: This study set out to answer a deceptively simple question: What might happen if people moved just a little more each day or sat a little less? Rather than focusing on whether people met established exercise targets, the researchers examined the potential population-wide impact of very small increases in physical activity and small reductions in sedentary time.
To investigate this question, they conducted an individual participant data meta-analysis, which means they combined and reanalyzed data from multiple other studies. The analysis included data from seven groups in the United States, Norway and Sweden, comprising more than 40,000 participants, along with a separate analysis of nearly 95,000 participants from the United Kingdom.
The researchers focused on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, which includes activities that raise the heart rate and make people breathe harder, as well as total sedentary time. They then estimated how many deaths might be prevented if people increased their activity by just five or 10 minutes a day or reduced their sitting time by 30 or 60 minutes a day.
Health benefits may begin at low levels of activity, particularly for those who are sedentary. – LeoPatrizi/E+/Getty Images
CNN: What did they learn about the potential impact of small changes?
Wen: The key finding was that even very small changes in daily movement could be associated with meaningful reductions in deaths when applied across large populations.
The researchers modeled two different scenarios. One focused on people who were least active — roughly the bottom 20% of participants — and asked what might happen if this high-risk group slightly increased their activity. The second took a broader, population-based approach, looking at what might happen if nearly everyone except the most active 20% of individuals made small changes.
In the high-risk scenario, a five-minute-per-day increase in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity among the least active participants was estimated to prevent about 6% of all deaths. When that same five-minute increase was applied across the broader population — excluding only the most active individuals — the potential reduction rose to about 10% of all deaths. These estimates suggest that modest increases in movement, when adopted widely, could translate into substantial population-level benefits.
The researchers also examined reductions in sedentary time. Cutting daily sitting time by 30 minutes was associated with smaller but still meaningful reductions in deaths. Among the least active participants, a 30-minute reduction in sedentary time was estimated to prevent about 3% of deaths, while applying that same reduction across the broader population could prevent about 7% of deaths.
CNN: Do these results support what we already know about exercise, sitting and longevity?
Wen: These findings are consistent with decades of research showing that physical activity is strongly associated with longer life and lower risk of chronic disease, while prolonged sedentary time is linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and premature death.
What this study adds is nuance. Traditional exercise research and guidelines often emphasize thresholds; for example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity such as brisk walking, dancing or gardening. These thresholds are based on levels of activity associated with maximal or near-maximal health benefits. While those targets are evidence-based, they could unintentionally reinforce the idea that anything less does not matter.
This analysis reinforces the concept that the relationship between activity and health is not all or nothing. Benefits begin at very low levels of activity, particularly for people who are starting from a sedentary baseline. Even incremental increases below guideline thresholds can contribute to better health outcomes.
The study also aligns with growing recognition that sitting time itself is an independent health risk. Even people who exercise regularly can spend large portions of the day sitting, and reducing sedentary time appears to confer benefits beyond structured exercise alone.
CNN: Does this study change existing exercise guidelines?
Wen: It does not change existing exercise guidelines, and it does not suggest that recommended activity levels should be lowered. The current guidelines remain grounded in extensive evidence and are designed to optimize health outcomes across many dimensions, including cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength and metabolic health.
What this research does change is how people might think about those guidelines. Instead of viewing them as a rigid standard that must be met to see any benefit, people can think of them as an aspirational goal along a continuum. Movement exists on a spectrum, and every step along that spectrum matters.
This framing can be particularly helpful for people who feel discouraged or defeated by traditional exercise advice. Rather than feeling that anything short of a full workout is pointless, people can recognize that small increases in daily movement are worthwhile and meaningful.
CNN: Who may benefit most from focusing on small, incremental changes?
Wen: As seen across numerous studies, the largest potential gains appear to be among people who are least active to begin with. For individuals who spend most of the day sitting and engage in very little moderate or vigorous activity, adding even a few minutes of movement represents a substantial relative increase.
This group includes many older adults, people with chronic medical conditions, individuals with physically demanding caregiving roles, and those whose jobs involve prolonged sitting. It also encompasses people who may feel intimidated by exercise culture or who have limited access to safe spaces for physical activity.
From a public health perspective, helping these groups move just a little more could have an outsize impact. Small, realistic changes are more likely to be adopted and sustained, and when spread across large populations, they can translate into meaningful reductions in disease and premature death.
CNN: For someone who feels overwhelmed by exercise advice, what is a realistic first step they could take today?
Wen: A helpful first step may be to shift the mindset from “exercise” to “movement.” Physical activity does not have to mean a gym membership or an intense, structured workout. It can be as simple as taking a brisk walk, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and standing up and doing chores like vacuuming during the day.
The goal is not perfection or intensity but consistency. Adding a few minutes of movement to the day, or finding opportunities to sit less, can be a manageable place to start. Over time, those small changes can build confidence and momentum.
The central message of this new study is actually reassuring: Progress does not have to be dramatic to matter a lot. Small, realistic changes, repeated day after day, can add up in ways that benefit both you and your community as a whole.
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