2 Personality traits that will buffer your immune system this winter…
Wednesday, January 3, 2024. 8:30 am.
In a previous post, I discussed the notion of frustration tolerance. I expect 2024 to be an interesting year that will challenge all humans to live in unfolding history…
Certain personality traits influence the body’s immune system response. One of these is neuroticism. A human being doesn’t choose to be afflicted with neuroticism.
Neuroticism lies at the opposite end of the spectrum of emotional regulation and stability. Humans with neurotic traits experience more negative thinking and tend to have worse mental health overall.
Humans who are lucky enough to have been shaped with more stable emotions have measurably stronger immune systems, this research finds.
People who are emotionally stable usually find it easier to control their urges and are mostly comfortable in their own skin…
Emotional stability is a bedrock human benefit. Humans who can manage their emotions have greater innate skills in dealing with stress and minor daily frustrations.
How the study was conducted
The study included 84 humans whose response to a vaccine for hepatitis B was tested.
The results showed that humans who were more neurotic — the ones who are more easily stressed, nervous, and moody — tended to have measurably weaker immune system responses. However, those humans who were more emotionally stable had a stronger immune response.
Dr Anna L. Marsland, from the University of Pittsburg is the study’s lead author, said:
“The present findings support a link between trait negative affect and an objective health measure — antibody response to vaccination — raising the possibility that individuals high in trait negative affect or neuroticism may have less protective immune responses.”
How the second part of the study was conducted
In the second part of the study, the study subjects were given a stressful task in order to test the response of their immune function.
The results showed that stress tended to lower people’s immune system response — which we also already knew as previous studies have confirmed this.
The healing power of extroversion…
Along with emotional stability, extraversion has also been linked to a stronger immune system, by an emerging science of genetic analysis.
Extraverted humans are typically friendly, and outgoing, they are also very communicative and energetic. They tend to interact with more people, and seem to enjoy their company. Sounds pretty neurotypical to me.
They are, therefore, exposed to more infections.
A stronger immune response seems to be helping to protect extraverts against infectious diseases like colds and flu..
But introverts have a weaker response…
Introverts, meanwhile, tend to have a weaker immune response, as do cautious people.
What I liked about this study was the stacking of the data In the past, a study like this would be survey-driven.
However this study included 121 people who were not only given personality questionnaires, they were also administered genetic tests and general overall health screening.
The findings revealed that extraverts had the highest expression of pro-inflammatory genes.
These are the genetic markers designed to fight off infections.
Introverts and cautious conscientious people tended to have a lower inflammatory response, by the same measure.
This next part is what I call applied research:
I invite my readers to soul-search the depths of their neuroticism, and if they deem it appropriate, to mask up, and get their shots.
Live well, stay kind, and Godspeed.
RESEARCH:
Marsland, A. L., Cohen, S., Rabin, B. S., & Manuck, S. B. (2001). Associations between stress, trait negative affect, acute immune reactivity, and antibody response to hepatitis B injection in healthy young adults. Health Psychology, 20(1), 4–11. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.20.1.4
