People who live the longest share these five personality traits

If you want to stick around for a while, it could help to be more like this lot...

If you’re planning to live long enough to receive a birthday card from the Queen, or even Prince George, then there are certain personality traits that will help get you there, apparently.

Tech Insider have published the results of of two studies looking into long living. One was conducted by the American Psychological Association that spanned 75 years, and which engaged couples joined when they were in their twenties, and the other by Open Access Journal On Ageing that surveyed people aged between 95 and 100, to see which traits those who are living the longest have in common.

According to the studies there are five, but apparently, we’re less likely to detect these aspects of our personality ourselves, so it’s best to read this with a friend. Conscientiousness Researchers found that men who were less likely to take risks, ie, more conscientious, lived longer. Participants picked a group of their friends to answer 36 questions such as ‘Is he physically energetic and peppy?’ to more personal ones like ‘How does he meet his appointments?’

So start making it to those appointments on time if you want to be in for the long haul.

Sex improves with age

Openness

Those who kept an open mind when it came to being open to different views, ideas, feelings and concepts tended to live longer.

Does that mean Donald Trump will be signing out soon then? Emotional stability

Due to the study first being conducted 75 years ago, men and women were given different questions (- which shows how different the genders were viewed back then.) Anyway, women who were seen to have emotional stability also lived the longest lives.

Friendliness

The more recent study of people between 95 and 100 (75% of the 243 were women) found that all of them rated highly on how easy-going and extroverted they were.

The ability to express feelings

Researchers in the later study found that not only does not bottling up negative emotions have a positive effect on health, but also laughing frequently.

So there you have it. Are these the secrets to a long life, and how do you reckon you fare?