Previous studies had already found that people with anxious and impulsive personality have a higher risk of suffering from coronary heart disease and that calm people and patients have a tendency to live longer. Now, a new study puts on the table that the degree of extraversion is directly related to the health of individuals .
The study, developed by a team of researchers from the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) and the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) has analyzed the five typical personality traits (openness, responsibility, kindness, emotional instability and extroversion) in relation to our health in order to see if these affected well-being.
Specifically, using high-sensitivity DNA chips , they analyzed the DNA of 121 healthy adults (86 women and 35 men) to find out what way these personality traits were related to the expression of certain genes that can affect our health by controlling for the activity of our immune system. The participants also filled out a questionnaire about their personality and their health habits (if they smoked or not, if they practiced exercise …).
The scientists discovered an association between the tendency to negative emotions such as anxiety or sadness and poor health . And on the contrary, the more extroverted people were related to a better functioning of the immune system and therefore, they had better health and they got sick less. Despite being more exposed to the disease -for having more social contact- , extroverts had a more effective immune system than people with any other personality trait (including those responsible).
The conclusions of the study have been published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology .
