\n<\/p>\n
Being organised, active and helpful could not just make you a better person, it may even help you live longer. On the other hand, being frequently stressed, anxious or moody could be linked to a shorter lifespan.<\/p>\n
Researchers said their findings, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, could help doctors develop tools for predicting health risks based not only on blood pressure and cholesterol but also on how someone tends to think, feel and behave.<\/p>\n
Ren\u00e9 M\u00f5ttus, a psychologist and co-author of the study, said: \u201cRather than looking at broad, catch-all personality types like extroverted or conscientious, we zoomed in on individual descriptors: the precise ways people talked about themselves when filling out standardised personality questionnaires.\u201d<\/p>\n
The University of Edinburgh professor said the study\u2019s \u201crobust\u201d findings gave the first indication yet that those tiny, specific self-descriptions \u2013 the ones most of us breeze through without a second thought \u2013 could be quietly predicting who lives longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe word \u2018active\u2019 was the most striking,\u201d M\u00f5ttus said. \u201cParticipants who described themselves this way were significantly less likely to die during the study period \u2013 with a 21% lower risk, even when age, gender and medical conditions were taken into account.\u201d<\/p>\n
The traits of being lively, organised, responsible, hard-working, thorough and helpful followed closely behind. The research covered more than 22,000 adults in four major studies with follow-up periods of six to 28 years.<\/p>\n
P\u00e1raic O\u2019S\u00failleabh\u00e1in, another co-author and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Limerick in Ireland, said: \u201cThe significance of this study lies in its precision. Our study suggests personality works not just as a general influence but as a set of specific behaviours and attitudes \u2013 and those individual characteristics have a measurable impact on longevity.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, it is not just about being conscientious, it\u2019s about being hard-working and thorough. It is not just about being extroverted, it\u2019s about being lively and active.<\/p>\n
M\u00f5ttus said: \u201cPeople can be similarly conscientious or extroverted in different ways. It\u2019s these nuanced differences that matter \u2013 possibly even for how long we live.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the study found that these specific traits predicted mortality risks better than the five broader traits commonly used to summarise personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen added together, the nuances carried more predictive power than the broader traits they technically belong to,\u201d M\u00f5ttus said.<\/p>\n
While positive traits helped people live longer, the study found, their emotional opposites seemed to have the opposite effect: people who rated themselves high on tendencies linked to neuroticism \u2013 such as being moody, anxious or easily upset \u2013 were more likely to die earlier.<\/p>\n
But before anyone rushes off to rewrite their personality, the authors were keen to stress their findings were not deterministic: you\u2019re not doomed to die early because you worry too much, or live for ever because you never miss a deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat our research does suggest is that personality could play a supporting role \u2013 one that\u2019s underestimated in medicine and public health,\u201d O\u2019S\u00failleabh\u00e1in said.<\/p>\n
The study also found that lifestyle and clinical factors such as smoking, BMI, physical activity and chronic illness accounted for some but not all of the differences between personality and lifespan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means being \u2018organised\u2019 might help people stick to routines that improve health, but it may also reflect underlying psychological resilience or social habits that contribute to a longer life,\u201d O\u2019S\u00failleabh\u00e1in said.<\/p>\n
Dr Ross Stewart, a specialist in personality and psychology at the University of Chester, praised the study\u2019s unprecedented focus on specific personality traits. \u201cUntil now, most studies stopped at the broader trait level. But this research shows the ways people describe themselves using individual words may be just as powerful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Samuel Henry, a research fellow in psychological assessment at Tartu University in Estonia, said the practical implications are quietly radical. He said if health services could incorporate personality screening into routine assessments, it might help flag people who are at risk because their behaviour patterns suggest difficulties with managing long-term health.<\/p>\n
\u201cA person who doesn\u2019t see themselves as \u2018organised\u2019 may struggle to keep up with medication,\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone who doesn\u2019t feel \u2018active\u2019 might need more support to get moving.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being organised, active and helpful could not just make you a better person, it may even help you live longer. On the other hand, being frequently stressed, anxious or moody could be linked to a shorter lifespan. Researchers said their findings, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, could help doctors develop tools for predicting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[2459,189,337,333,6191,14718,2366,188],"class_list":{"0":"post-24178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-active","9":"tag-finds","10":"tag-life","11":"tag-longer","12":"tag-organised","13":"tag-predictor","14":"tag-psychology","15":"tag-study"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}