A Study Showed The Insane Influence Of Our Psyche On Our Life Expectancy
This is truly astonishing
What influences how long you live?
Of course, your genes, your diet, your fitness, and your overall lifestyle.
What is often overlooked, however, is your psyche. Research shows that people with a positive attitude tend to live longer.
However, many people are constantly worrying their heads off. We all have such phases. Especially when things are not going well. But if this problem, often called overthinking, occurs again and again, you probably have a high score on the neuroticism scale.
What Is Neuroticism?
Neuroticism can be defined as the tendency to perceive emotions (especially negative ones) very intensively. This tendency often leads to overthinking. Neurotic individuals are often described as passionate, anxious, and worrying, while individuals with a low score on the neuroticism scale are hardly fazed and are described as self-confident and robust.
A Study Shows: Neuroticism Kills
People who show little neuroticism live longer. This was the result of a study conducted at the University of Edinburgh in 2007.
During the 21-year observation period, low neurotic individuals were significantly less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who were constantly worried.
Why Is That?
Well, there is a quite simple answer for this phenomenon.
Neurotic individuals are frequently stressed, which leads to the constant release of the stress hormone cortisol. With significant consequences.
Chronically elevated cortisol levels often lead to heart disease and hypertension. In addition, too much cortisol damages the nerve cells in the hippocampus. This area of the brain is responsible for learning ability and memory. In addition, the quality of sleep often deteriorates due to high cortisol levels, which in turn has further negative effects and increases the cortisol level even more. A vicious circle.
What To Do About It?
Unfortunately, some people have a strong innate tendency to neuroticism. However, there are some activities that can help against the constant overthinking.
Since I also struggle with these problems, I can say that sports and meditation help me particularly well. If it is very bad, therapy can also help. You can also try breathing exercises, dream journeys, and mindfulness.
It’s definitely worth doing something about it, because the effects of constant anxiety are very severe, as I mentioned earlier.
Thanks for reading!
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