The anti-ageing personality

Star Trek fans will know that the Vulcan blessing goes, “Live long and prosper”. It works because “Live and long and suffer ignominious poverty like a dog” lacks a certain warmth as far as blessings go. Whatever you might read into the “prosper” part of the message dreamed up by Gene Roddenberry back in the 60s, implicit is that a long life is a blessing. Boy, was Gene a futuristic visionary! We might not be “beaming up” yet, and maybe we aren’t quite boldly going where no humans have gone before, but we sure are embracing the search for long life. Anti-ageing potions, lotions, and procedures abound but now a new study has suggested that all you really need for a long life is to have the right personality traits.

Earlier studies have already told us that personality is not something that sits separate from your biology. Just as disease symptoms are signposts pointing you in the direction of your learning, so personality is a signpost pointing back to your genetic nature. To turn it the other way, your genes determine (at least to some degree) both your physical health and your personality traits. So it would seem logical to assume that there will be certain personality types that are linked with healthy outcomes and therefore longer life.

This is the premise that researchers began from and they began their research suspecting that tough, inflexible people might live longer but were they proved correct?

The study was done on 243 centenarians who were given a personality test developed by the researchers specifically to identify genetically based personality traits. The test was called the Personality Outlook Profile Scale (POPS). These centenarians were compared to a representative baseline of the United States population.

The results showed that being tough and inflexible did not relate to long life. Instead these centenarians scored high for being optimistic, easy-going, outgoing, conscientious, and enjoying laughter.

In the end it appears that old chestnut trotted out by people justifying a certain way of living, “I’m here for a good time, not a long time” is a balloon that holds no air, because being here for a good time means being here for a longer time.