Often people living hundred years long are cited to have the right combination of genes in their bodies. Well, what’s the right mix? According to experts at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, personality genes that connote people’s liveliness, optimism, attitudes and socializing nature may play an important role in deciding their life spans.
For the study, nearly 243 individuals who had completed 100 years of their ages were incorporated. As per the results, these participants seemed to carry positive attitudes in life. They appeared to be more friendly, extroverted and happy. These subjects displayed less inclination towards issues like anxiety or obsession. They seemingly got higher points in terms of being principled, when pitted against another study group in the US.
“When I started working with centenarians, I thought we’d find that they survived so long in part because they were mean and ornery,” commented Nir Barzilai, M.D., the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair of Aging Research, director of Einstein’s Institute for Aging Research and co-corresponding author of the study.
However, it was seen that personality often changed between 70 and 100 years of age. This made it unclear if the persons living a long life carried the same attributes throughout their life spans or just as senior citizens. Whatever be the case, the investigators are of the opinion that genes related to positive personality traits may contribute to a healthy and long life.
Reported in the journal Aging, the study showed that living an active life with the humor alive could lead to a long life.