HHS HealthBeat (April 20, 2009)

Aging with Personality

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Living long seems to run in families. Researcher Thomas Perls of Boston University School of Medicine has been tracking people who reach 100 – and their kids, many in their 70s.

Perls says good genes were a factor – but personality counts, too. Children of centenarians were more likely to be outgoing, and likely have more social supports. And they were less likely to dwell on life’s problems, and likely managed stress better.

But he cautions:

[Thomas Perls speaks] ``That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s genetically determined because families share a lot of traits that are both environmental and genetic.’’

So he says you can work on your approach to life – and on physical things, like exercise.

The study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April, 24 2009