PERSONALITY CLASH

HOW your personality affects your disease risk. This week: Being a pessimist

‘GLASS half-empty’ types may prove themselves right. A 2016 report in the journal BMC Public Health comparing healthy middleaged pessimists and optimists found that, over an 11-year period, the pessimists were more than twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease.

While the Finnish researchers did not explain why, a recent study of 175 people, published in the journal Emotion, suggests those who often experience positive emotions have lower levels of disease-causing inflammation.

As well as a lower risk of heart attack and stroke, optimism is strongly linked to fewer stressrelated illnesses, says Professor Andrew Steptoe, head of behavioural science and health at University College London.

‘ This may be linked to optimists’ behaviour, but also their neurobiology, where they produce lower levels of stress hormones,’ he says. However, he adds, evidence shows personality traits are not fixed.