The findings of Estonian scientists who combined the results of personality studies with genetic and health data indicate that body weight can influence a person’s character traits.
“We studied the causal link between a person’s personality traits and body weight in two directions: first, from personality to body weight and also vice versa, whether body weight can influence our personality. It turned out that the second option, which was a “It applies in a somewhat more unexpected and controversial way,” said Kadri Arumäe, a health behavior researcher at the University of Tartu in “Attention! This is science.” In other words, gaining weight can really change a person’s nature quite a lot.
Personality research is based on a model created by psychologists that divides human nature into five large groups. They are sociability, extroversion, neuroticism, openness and assertiveness. Since human nature is very complex, each group is in turn made up of subfaces.
“People who have a higher body weight or are overweight are on average a little less confident, that is, a little less dignified and conscientious. At the same time, they are more irritable and tend to get angry, which may indicate that we there are more stressors in their lives,” Arumäe explained.
At the same time, people with a higher body weight tend to be more altruistic and compassionate. “On the other hand, it could be their psychological resource that helps them navigate the social world better,” the researcher added.
Uku Vainik, associate professor of behavioral genetics at the University of Tartu, said higher anxiety and lower confidence can also be found in people suffering from other excessive drinking behaviors, such as alcohol, tobacco or gambling, or even drugs. “The question is whether being overweight is another addictive behavior,” the professor asked rhetorically. However, while addictive substances have a clearly distinguishable addictive component, such as nicotine or caffeine, food is more complicated. Especially since everyone needs the substances contained in it throughout their lives.
“When we looked at the personality profile, we found that all the addictive behaviors have a very similar profile to each other. The overweight profile is a little bit away from them, but not as far away as our control profiles, like differences in gender or level of education. Food addiction is closer to addictive behaviors. It is part of overweight, but this does not explain all overweight. Overweight is a more diverse phenomenon than simple addictive behavior,” he confirmed Vainik.
Correlating personality tests with genetic and health information provides valuable health insights. With the Gene Pool Personality Survey, a unique dataset of almost 80,000 Estonians was collected for this purpose.
Vainik noted that genes play an important role in the development of obesity. However, for much of human history, they were not very important. “We have never had so much food available as now. Today, thanks to agricultural innovation, we are doing an experiment in which we give everyone a lot of cheap food and see who gets fat and who doesn’t,” admitted the professor.
However, according to him, it is possible to reduce this possibility in an environment so full of temptations. “The trick is that you should choose the healthiest foods, i.e. those that are rarer and chew longer, such as fruits and vegetables. I recommend trying this trick at home,” said Uku Vainik.
2024-01-25 10:05:00
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