Longevity experts reveal the personality traits that could help you live longer – and it’s bad news for people who thrive in chaos
Being organised, engaged, and helpful could not just make you more enjoyable to be around, it may even help you live longer according to new research.
On the other hand, leaving everything until the last minute when stress levels are high, being frequently anxious or moody could be linked to a shorter lifespan.
Writing in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, longevity experts said their findings could help doctors predict health risks based not only on tangible measures like blood pressure, but also on how someone tends to think, feel and behave.
Professor Rene Mottus, an expert in ageing and individual differences and study co-author, said: ‘Rather than looking at broad, catch-all personality types like extroverted or conscientious, we zoomed in on individual descriptions: the precise ways people talked about themselves when filling out standardised personality questionnaires.’
They found that these mundane self-descriptions, that we often give little thought to, could be quietly predicting who lives longer.
‘The word ‘active’ was the most striking,’ Prof Mottus told The Guardian.
‘Participants who described themselves this way were significantly less likely to die during the study period—with a 21 per cent lower risk, even when age, gender and medical conditions were taken into account.’
The traits of being energetic, organised, responsible, hard-working, thorough and helpful were close seconds.
The researchers said that being organised, conscientious and thorough may help people build habits that are good for their health, but may also reflect underlying psychological resilience, helping them live for longer
In the study, researchers followed more than 22,000 adults across four major studies with respective follow-up periods of six to 28 years.
They found that these specific nuances—not just generally being extroverted—predicted mortality risks better than five broader traits commonly used to summarise personality including openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
Expanding on this, Professor Páraic O’Súilleabháin psychology professor at the University of Limerick and study co-author, said: ‘The significance of this study lies in its precision.
‘Our study suggests personality works not just as a general influence but as a set of specific behaviours and attitudes—and those individual characteristics have a measurable impact on longevity.’
In other words Prof Mottus said, it is not just about being extroverted—it’s about being outgoing, hardworking and helpful.
‘People can be similarly conscientious or extroverted in different ways. It’s these nuanced differences that matter—possibly even for how long we live.’
And while broadly positive traits such as being helpful helped people live longer, the researchers found that negative traits seemed to have the opposite effect: people who said they often experienced anxiety, are generally moody or are easily upset were more likely to die earlier.
But, the experts said longevity is not predetermined and how long you live, like your personality, is not set in stone.
But researchers said it’s not just about being extroverted—you also have to be helpful to reap the rewards
The researchers added that being active was the most important lifestyle factor, reducing the risk of dying by more than 20 per cent
‘What our research does suggest however is that personality could play a supporting role—one that’s underestimated in medicine and public health,’ Prof O’Súilleabháin explained.
The study also found that known risk factors such as physical inactivity, chronic illness and BMI accounted for some of the differences between personality and lifespan.
Prof O’Súilleabháin continued: ‘This means being “organised” might help people to stick to routines that improve health, but it may also reflect underlying psychological resilience or social habits that contribute to a longer life.’
Dr Ross Stewart, a professor in personality and psychology at the University of Chester, who wasn’t involved in the study, welcomed the findings.
‘Until now, most studies stopped at the broader trait level,’ he told The Guardian.
‘But this research shows the ways people describe themselves using individual words may be just as powerful,’ he said.
The researchers hope their findings will prompt health services to incorporate personality screening into routine assessments to help flag people who are at risk because their personality suggests difficulties with managing long-term health.
After decades of progress, attempts to keep people living longer are beginning to fail, with people in England now living roughly nine months less than they did in 2011.
Separate data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this year suggested that a baby boy born in the UK in 2023 could expect to live on average to 86.7 years.
Girls still have a longer anticipated lifespan of 90 years, although the gap has been narrowing.
As of the latest ONS data, for 2023, there are just over 16,000 centenarians—people who have lived over 100 years—living in the UK.
