Your personality can effect your health! So are you the life and soul of the party or the more cautious conscientious type? Are you a hopeless romantic or argumentative? Whichever category you fall into, gives an insight into the state of your health.
Research has revealed that your personality traits can reveal details about life expectancy and how likely you are to develop various diseases.
Overall those who are conscientious and agreeable are more likely to have better health than those who are more neurotic and angry.
If you are organised and hard working, you are less likely to suffer from a stroke.
People who are more conscientious at age 26 are more likely to be in much better health at age 38. Among the least conscientious who were studied, 45% went on to suffer from multiple health problems, compared to just 18% from the most conscientious group.
People low in conscientiousness were more likely to be overweight and have higher cholesterol levels, sand suffer from hypertension. If you are conscientious you are more likely to have an active lifestyle and display more self control,so less likely to smoke or abuse alcohol and drugs.
However, being neurotic at age 26 was not linked to poorer physical health at age 38, contrary to popular thinking which points to neuroticism being linked to stress.
Ultimately, if a doctor knows a patient’s personality, it may help them to assess and diagnose illness more easily. Worth getting to know your doctor, but hardly time to sit and have a friendly chat while you’re in your 10 minute appointment slot!
