Being organized, active and helpful: these are the traits that a study has identified as being common characteristics of those who live longer.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, being frequently stressed, anxious or moody could be linked to a shorter lifespan.
This is a good reminder for many of us to work on mental equilibrium and a positive, easygoing attitude.
One distinction is important: it’s not that the interviewed subjects were objectively known to have these positive traits — it’s that they felt that way about themselves.
The results were published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research.
“The word ‘active’ was the most striking,” Mõttus reports. “Participants who described themselves this way were significantly less likely to die during the study period – with a 21% lower risk, even when age, gender and medical conditions were taken into account.”
The traits of being lively, organized, responsible, hard-working, thorough and helpful yielded similar findings.
The impressive research saw over 22,000 adults in four major studies with follow-up periods of six to 28 years.
Co-author and psychology professor Páraic O’Súilleabháin noted “The 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 behaviors and attitudes – and those individual characteristics have a measurable impact on longevity.”
Mõttus explains further : “People can be similarly conscientious or extroverted in different ways. It’s these nuanced differences that matter – possibly even for how long we live.”
Previously, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism were opposing poles. This study takes a finer approach, and claims that nuance decides prediction.
“What our research does suggest is that personality could play a supporting role – one that’s underestimated in medicine and public health,” O’Súilleabháin concluded.
That’s because being organized would suggest psychological resistance or social habits that contribute to a longer life, such as keeping up with medication.
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