Role of personality type in fitness: Extraversion and neuroticism may determine physical activity levels, study finds

It is common knowledge that your personality is what sets you apart from the crowd and makes you who you are. According to the American Psychological Association, personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Your physical characteristics, the way your brain functions, heredity and genetics, and your social, cultural and religious experiences play a huge role in determining your personality.

But what does your personality determine? Of course, it determines how you react to and cope with situations, but a new study says that it may also determine your take on physical activity.

Personality and exercise levels

The study, recently published in BMC Geriatrics, indicates that middle-aged people with certain personality traits had higher leisure-time physical activity levels than others. The study included 1,098 women aged 47-55 years and 314 men and women aged 70-85 years.

The Eysenck Personality Inventory was used to assess two particular types of personality traits: extraversion and neuroticism. Physical activity levels of all participants were assessed with hip-worn tri-axial accelerometers and self-reporting. The analysis of all this data was adjusted according to factors like age, body mass index and education.

The study found that neuroticism was negatively associated with moderate to vigorous physical activity assessed via both the accelerometer as well as the self-reporting questionnaire. Extraversion, on the other hand, was positively associated with self-reported exercise levels.

In the older adult group of 314 participants, those who scored high in neuroticism reported lesser levels of activity than their accelerometers measured. Such a discrepancy between self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity levels was not found in those older adults who had extraversion.

Neuroticism and extraversion - what you need to know

These findings show that higher levels of neuroticism are associated with lower physical activity levels and higher levels of extraversion are associated with higher levels of self-reported physical activity. If proper physical activity levels as you grow older is one of your aims, as it should be for continued fitness levels and overall good health, more extraversion and less neuroticism in your personality would be ideal.

Extraversion, also spelt extroversion, and neuroticism are both parts of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits: the other three are agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness. Extraversion is characterised by being outgoing, high energy and talkative, and it’s believed that the high energy levels that extroverts display are derived from being with other people rather than from the inside.

Neuroticism is typically defined as a tendency towards anxiety, self-doubt, depression and negative feelings. On the Big Five spectrum, neuroticism is associated with low emotional stability, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and other mental health issues.

Clearly, high levels of neuroticism are not good for either your physical or mental health and fitness. If you have symptoms of neuroticism, you may want to reach out to a professional to manage your neuroticism levels so as to avoid grave mental health issues from emerging.

Modifying your personality traits is easier said than done, but when some traits can impair your physical activity levels (as shown in the study) as well as your mental health as you grow older, it’s best to work towards taking control and tailoring your personality for better health outcomes.

For more information, read our article on Personality Disorder .

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