There are few areas of science that attract as much attention as the study of longevity. Usually, a wholesome diet, good genes and sensible lifestyle are mentioned when experts talk about what is likely to help each of us enjoy better health and an extended life expectancy. One variable that tends to get less attention is personality, although the latest research suggests this can be just as important as some of the more frequently talked about factors.
A study by Dr Howard Friedman of the University of California found that conscientious people tended to live longer than their less hard-working counterparts. The research, which was announced in a the journal Health Psychology, discovered that conscientious people could expect to live at least four years longer than their less conscientious counterparts. According to Dr Naresh Dhar, a specialist psychiatrist at Prime Medical Centre in Dubai, there are many ways in which being more level-headed can lead to benefits.
"If I am a student I will study daily and be punctual. Then, when the exam comes that means I don't have to worry," he says. "Other people, they won't study, then they will lock themselves up in their room for 15 hours a day and keep smoking or drinking excessive amounts of coffee or tea. That puts stress on these people. "Also, if you are very casual, then you don't mind experimenting. The conscientious person might not indulge and have risk-taking behaviour."
Also, cautious people, according to Dr Dhar, are less prone than their more carefree counterparts to develop addictive behaviour. "Even if they drink, they know they shouldn't drink too much. If they drive, they know they should not speed up too much. If a person is impulsive, he does these without thinking," he says. His views are shared by Dr Adnan Fadhli, a consultant psychiatrist at Dubai's Al Rashad Psychiatry Clinic.
He agrees that conscientious people tend to drink in moderation and because they look after themselves, keep their weight under control. Personality in this way is not influencing an individual's life expectancy directly, but through the better lifestyle that it may lead to. However, before people with a reputation for hard work become complacent, it is worth their remembering that being too conscientious can itself be damaging. In the case of hard work, as with so much else in life, you can get too much of a good thing.
"Some people, they go to an extreme," says Dr Dhar. "They do things repeatedly, which causes strain. They cannot relax. They cannot enjoy themselves. They cannot feel comfortable." Anxiety, says Dr Fadhli, causes the release of hormones such as adrenalin or epinephrine, noradrenaline or norepinephrine and cortisone. These can cause blood pressure to increase. "All these hormones play a role in causing these imbalances," he says.
As well as increasing blood pressure, excessive anxiety has been linked to an array of physical disorders that include heart disease and high cholesterol levels - the type of ailments that leading an excessively carefree lifestyle can also make very casual-minded individuals prone to. Overall then, the message from psychiatrists and psychologists is that in terms of personality, moderation is a good thing. Occupying either end of the scale means people are more likely to encounter problems.
As Dr Dhar puts it, the ideal is to be conscientious, but not too conscientious, and to enjoy going out and enjoying yourself, but not to excess. "Any personality that has a mix of these traits is good," he says. "If a person is not very obsessive, not too much of a hypochondriac, not very neurotic - to be an average person. Any personality that is moderate is very good." However, as a footnote to this and in keeping with the latest research finding that conscientious people tend to live longer, he says that if an obsession is mild "it can be an asset".
While scientists may agree on where the ideal place is on the continuum between neurotic and carefree, there are a range of views on what factors determine an individual's position. In simple terms, the issue centres on the age old discussion about the effects of genes versus environment. Dr Dhar tends to think that genetic factors take precedence. "These are all genetically determined - why one person is active and another person is lazy, why one person is punctual and another is not punctual, why one person has to be sure there are no mistakes, while another is absent-minded," he says.
"Basically, a major part of personality is caused by genes, by what family you come from. Environment plays a role, but if you said that only the environment was responsible, I wouldn't agree." By contrast, Dr Fadhli believes that environmental factors have a more significant influence. While he too believes that genetic influences play a part, in his view the first five years of life and the relationship a person has with their parents during that time are pivotal.
"This is what shapes a person," he says. "If a child is very exposed to conflicts between mother and father, that can lead to neurosis." In particular, Dr Fadhli believes that anankastic personality disorder, also known as obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, is in large part a consequence of an individual's early-life experiences. This condition involves an obsession with having objects arranged perfectly and having life organised perfectly.
Although the two disorders are often found together, OCPD is distinct from obsessive-compulsive disorder, which centres on intrusive thoughts and the repeated performing of rituals. "This is something to do with upbringing and the [behaviour of] the parent during childhood," Dr Fadhli says of OCPD. "It happens if there's a harsh or strict upbringing and they have no chance to express themselves, especially during the first five years of life.
"This is the reason people become very perfectionist and meticulous and everything they do is over conscientious. There is a genetic factor also playing a role in this disturbance." People whose "obsession becomes an illness", as Dr Fadhli describes it, can undergo psychotherapy or take medication to alleviate their symptoms. Among those prescribed are selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SSRIs, which are also taken by people suffering from depression and several other conditions including insomnia.
They achieve their effects by improving the transmission of messages between neurons in the brain by stopping the transmitting nerve cell from reabsorbing the neurotransmitter serotonin before it has had a chance to stimulate the recipient neuron. dbardsley@thenational.ae
