Willpower, discipline- whatever the magical name for it- for me, it is often elusive when it comes to sticking to food plans. Is it boredom, greed, tiredness, or hormones that get in the way, or is it psychology? And if it is down to psychology, what does that mean? Is it environment or genetics? Or wait for it — personality?
I got quite excited researching the relationship of personality traits to health outcomes. Here's what I found out:
These are the "Big 5" personality traits (as published recently in a Nature article; read more here).
- Openness to experience — imagination, curiosity, aesthetic sensitivity
- Conscientiousness — organisation, productiveness, responsibility
- Extraversion — sociability, assertiveness, energy level
- Agreeableness — compassion, respectfulness, trust
- Neuroticism — anxiety, depression, volatility
So which one are you? Well, it doesn't work like that; in fact, we all have a little of each. But a couple correlate with your metabolic health and energy levels.
Those people who score highly in conscientiousness are the ones more likely to stick with a food plan, and they turn up looking good across all sorts of measures — lower BMI, fewer hospital visits, healthier ageing.
Those of us who run anxious are more likely to show fatigue, probably from being up all night worrying (about nothing in my case) and are more likely to have metabolic health issues.
And anyone who scores highly in impulsiveness is sadly more likely to reach for a cream puff. That last one is not a small effect either. In a study that followed nearly 2,000 people for fifty years, the most impulsive 10% of people weighed on average eleven kilograms more than the least impulsive 10% of people.
Does this mean your personality dooms you to a certain health outcome?
No, these are patterns seen across hundreds of thousands of people, and they tell you very little about what any one person will actually do. All the genes associated with the different personality traits put together explain less than 10% of the variation in personality itself. The rest comes down to your environment, circumstances, and life lived. Your personality is a signal that can shape your propensity to act (or eat) in a certain way.
What I find interesting is thinking about how your personality shapes how you might approach changes in lifestyle and health. For example, your health plan might need to be packaged differently from your partner's plan.
Every eating plan I have seen was designed for a conscientious person. But if you start giving me regimented instructions, my eyes glaze over fairly quickly. Similarly, don't send me to the supermarket with a list; I will come back with everything but what is on the list. I like to follow principles, rather than rules — show me the why and my imagination will fly. You might be different; Darcy certainly is; give him a spreadsheet and a way to measure, and he is like a kid in a candy store!
What's my point?
If you are dealing with health issues and want to make lifestyle changes, consider your personality and how you respond to principles versus plans.
The biology underpinning what you need to do doesn't change; fibre, protein and sleep are still important, but how you package the changes can determine whether your plans survive more than a few weeks!