Your personality can actually help protect your brain — here’s how

Your personality influences many things. It points to the things you enjoy doing and the kind of friends you have. And now we know it can also protect your brain from cognitive impairment, according to a new study.

The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, shows that people who are more conscientious and extroverted are more likely to keep their brains healthier. On the other hand, people with higher levels of neuroticism are more likely to experience cognitive decline.

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The study analyzed the personalities of 2,000 people who took part in a longitudinal study from Chicago conducted since the late 1990s. The study analyzed three personality traits (conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism) and compared them to people’s cognitive decline as they age.

“Personality traits reflect relatively persistent thought and behavior patterns that can cumulatively affect engagement in healthy and unhealthy behavior and thought patterns across the lifespan,” said the study’s lead author Tomiko Yoneda.

Researchers found that people who were extroverted and conscientious took a more positive approach to life’s challenges, while those with neurotic traits lived life in the opposite way. They had more stress in their lives and experienced more anxiety as a reaction to everyday frustrations. The finding that neuroticism is associated with cognitive decline makes a lot of sense; People with this personality trait are more likely to find rumination, anxiety, irritability, and more.

According to the researchers’ calculations, an 80-year-old person with high levels of conscientiousness could live up to two years longer than a person with a low level of the same trait. Another interesting finding the researchers found was that those who were extroverts had higher chances of recovery when faced with mild cognitive impairment.

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It’s surprising to learn that something as individual and difficult to categorize as people’s personalities can have a direct impact on their brains, but it also makes a lot of sense. Our behaviors and responses to everyday challenges strengthen the more we use them, and while we all have our predispositions, it’s possible to learn skills that can minimize our stress and, in turn, our brain health.