Since longevity is thought to run in families, Dr. Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study at the Boston University School of Medicine, examined 246 children of those who lived to 100 or beyond, evaluating them for five personality traits--neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness--and then compared them with published norms for each trait. That is, he not only focused on the centenarians themselves, but also the health of their offspring as they aged in the hope of finding common denominators for longevity.
If you have these three innate personality traits, you could live longer than most people.
And what is the common denominator for longevity? If you want to live longer, be happy and outgoing. Centenarians' offspring were found to be more extroverted than the norm, meaning they were quite social and formed important friendships that served as safety nets, providing important sources of help when they needed it. They also scored lower than the norms on neuroticism, which means they were able to manage stress very well. While women in the study scored high for agreeableness, the men were no higher than normal. Both men and women had average scores for openness and conscientiousness. "We have observed that these appear to be really important traits that set the children of centenarians apart from other people the same age who may not age as well," he told HealthDay News.
These personality traits translate into better health. "We really found that the offspring of centenarians, in their 70s and early 80s, are very much following in the footsteps of their parents," Perls told HealthDay News. "They have 60 percent reduced rates of heart disease, stroke and diabetes." The study findings were published online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
