Character can be a pointer to health risks

Your personality could have a strong bearing on your health, according to leading psychologists.

They suggest that recognising the links between our genetic make-up and our environment could go a long way towards helping us avoid conditions and diseases to which we could be most prone.

According to health psychologist at the University of Nottingham, Dr Martin Hagger: “Knowing you fall into one specific camp doesn’t immediately mean you’re going to develop heart disease, for instance, but it should wake you up to the risk, and give you the opportunity to recognise and target the less healthy aspects of your character – such as smoking or drinking.”

Daily Mail writers went on to have some fun with this idea, suggesting several studies which had linked people’s personalities to the health conditions from which they are most likely to suffer.

For example, it quoted Japanese research which suggested that optimistic people were more likely to become overweight, simply because they were confident that, no matter how much they succumbed to temptation, they could soon lose the weight again.

A further study, this time carried out by Glasgow University, found that more sympathetic and compassionate men were less likely to have stress levels which could lead to heart attacks.