The more outgoing and optimistic you are, the longer you may live, a new study suggests. Researchers have found that personality traits like being outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and enjoying laughter as well as staying engaged in activities may be an important part of the longevity genes mix. …

Previous studies of this population have found other genetic reasons for their longevity, including genes related to cellular repair mechanisms. Another study found that these centenarians don’t necessarily behave any better than the general population when it comes to health habits: They smoke, drink and eat just as badly as the rest of us. …

“Most were outgoing, optimistic and easygoing,” Barzilai said of the centenarians. “They considered laughter an important part of life and had a large social network. They expressed emotions openly rather than bottling them up.”
In addition, the centenarians had lower scores for displaying neurotic personality and higher scores for being conscientious compared with a representative sample of the U.S. population.