How Does Your Personality Affect Your Health?

It’s long been known through most of the world that our thoughts and feelings influence our physical health. For a while, these ideas were withheld mostly to Eastern wisdom and spiritual practices, but the ever pragmatic West is now recognizing that our behaviors, personality traits, and feelings can influence our health – for better or for worse.

In this article, we’re going to take a very broad look at the four basic personality types. Each of these personality types is known to exhibit more or less certain personality traits than others.

We will then take a look at how these traits can then relate to a person’s health. Learning about this, as well as identifying and working with your personality type, is a great way to maximize your physical and mental well-being.

 

The Different Personality Types

 

The original personality types, A and B, were identified by cardiologists in the 50s. They were struggling to identify the root cause of heart disease and had concluded that there was more to it than simple physical issues, such as cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

They eventually asserted the idea that personality traits could influence the risk of heart disease. Some people possessed traits that allowed them to harness inner resources for the purpose of healing. Others lacked these traits and would simply burn themselves out.

This section will give a brief outline of each personality type and how it might affect health.

 

Type A – the Go Getter

 

Type A people are highly driven and motivated. They are always on the go, hoping to reach their goals as quickly as possible so that they can get started on the next.

Because of this constant need to be moving and achieving, Type A people are generally much more prone to stress and anxiety. It can be hard for them to balance all of the different things that they need to do.

Stress is a known contributing factor to all sorts of illnesses. The tendency to burn out can also lower immunity.

 

Type B – Relaxed and Social

 

This personality type is the polar opposite of Type A. These people are relaxed, calm, and sociable without feeling the constant push to accomplish everything in a day.

This also amounts to lower motivation though and can lead to less accomplishment. Type Bs prefer to have a deadline to motivate them.  However,  if they spend time addressing emotions & mental health issues rather than repressing them, this might improve their overall well-being.

 

Type C – The Practical Perfectionist

 

Type C personalities are detail-oriented and precise, conscientious with good morals but generally hard on themselves. They can spend a lot of time on their own, and their introversion and solitary habits can lead to neurosis.

The tendency to be hard on one’s self, or excessively critical, can be destructive. This is, in fact, the same sort of action by which cancer cells work: by being destructive towards themselves and those around them. Type C is believed to be the cancer-prone personality type.

 

Type D – The Distressed

 

Type D people experience a lot of distressing emotions, such as anxiety and depression. At the same time, they often work to suppress these emotions. This internal push and pull can aggravate tensions and feelings of anxiety, which can manifest as physical problems including pain, fatigue, and even heart failure.

 

Conclusion

 

Different personality types can have a different effect on a person’s health. Understanding the links between your own personality type and the potential health risks associated with your behavior is important.

In doing this, you may learn what sort of things you’d like to improve on. By improving and adjusting your personality you can smooth out any bumps that may run a risk of causing you health problems.

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