Why do some people live longer than others? Everyone knows the standard explanations: diet, regular exercise, or even unique recipes such as smoking cigarettes before the age of 117, as one unusual French woman did.
But what effect does a person's personality have on longevity? Can people with a particular temperament live longer? The new study, published in the American Journal of the Geriatrics Society, is based on a study of the personalities of 246 children of people who live at least 100 years.
Research shows that those who live long are more responsive, active, and less nervous than other people. Long-lived women are also more empathetic and ready to interact than ordinary women. These findings are consistent with what we have come to expect from the theory of evolution: people who are open to friendship and willing to help others are able to muster enough resources to survive the most difficult times.
Other signs are also interesting. Someone who was more self-disciplined could not always boast of longevity (which perhaps explains the long life of a heavy smoker from France). By the way, openness to everything new also does not affect the length of life, and the proof of this is conservative grumpy old people who can live for quite a long time.
Whether you can change your personality as an adult has long been the subject of psychological debate. But a new study says that if you want to live longer, you need to be outgoing and friendly.
Unfortunately, other recent research shows that your mother's personality - which, of course, cannot be changed - can also influence longevity. A study of about 28,000 Norwegian mothers found that those mothers who were more nervous, prone to depression and anger, in many cases fed their babies with unhealthy foods rich in chocolate, soda and sweets. Eating habits nurtured from childhood are very difficult to change in adulthood, and this may mean that children of depressed mothers die earlier.
Personality is, of course, not destiny, and everyone knows that a person can learn to change. But both new studies show that longevity is not just a matter of your physical health, but mental health as well.