Does your personality need to go on a diet?
New research reveals which habits could lead to weight gain
January 13, 2012
Are you a stress junkie, a giver, or a perfectionist? New research shows that certain personality traits and habits can influence weight gain, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the Journal, several personality traits and behaviors set people up to pack on the pounds. For example, stress junkies—people who thrive on competition and deadlines—have higher levels of stress hormones, which may encourage the body to produce excess insulin and accumulate fat. Givers—people who put other's needs before their own—often become emotionally depleted and use food to comfort themselves. Likewise, perfectionists engage in all-or-nothing thinking and might use food to relieve pressure.
"If we can understand how personality is contributing to weight gain, we can develop interventions to help people deal with it," says Angelina Sutin, a researcher at the National Institute on Aging. Sutin last year led a study that found individuals who scored high on measures of neuroticism and impulsivity were more likely to be overweight or obese.
However, Judith Beck, president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, notes that losing weight does not require a personality overhaul. "You just need to change your thinking, which allows you to change your behavior," she says (Beck, Journal, 1/10).
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