Conscientiousness refers to your willful desire to work in
a dependable manner with attention to detail. Since the
1940s, the psychology field has considered
conscientiousness as one of five major personality traits,
the others being neuroticism, extraversion, openness and
agreeableness. Now, new research shows that your level of
conscientiousness may affect your level of Brain Fitness.
A little extra effort may be good for your brain
Researchers tested nearly a thousand older adults that were
free of any kind of dementia, rated them on the five
personality traits and then followed them for 12 years.
They discovered that high scores in conscientiousness were
protective against developing Alzheimer's disease down the
road.
Previous studies had already shown that Alzheimer's disease
patients have lower scores of conscientiousness. What was
not known, is whether conscientiousness simply declined
with the disease or whether having low conscientiousness
scores in the first place put you at higher risk for
getting the disease, which the new data confirms.
The reason high conscientiousness might protect you from
late-life dementia is not clear, but the research team
offered some speculation. They first considered that people
with higher degrees of conscientiousness take better care
of themselves and are therefore in better cardiovascular
health, which also relates to Alzheimer's disease. However,
when they controlled for this by comparing high and low
conscientious people in similar cardiovascular health, it
did not explain the difference.
Another area they speculated on related more to the idea of
cognitive reserve, which I have discussed in the past. They
used the term 'resilience', stating that conscientious
folks typically have greater coping skills and are more
capable of dealing with big stressors. This goes back to
the whole notion of increased brain fitness and suggests
that working on your level of conscientiousness may be
another tool to boost your cognitive health.
The same thing might be good for your pocket book
It's interesting to me that a completely different field,
business philosophy, has focused on conscientiousness for
different reasons. The well known business philosophers,
Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn and Brain Tracy, have all focused on
this in different ways.
One of Zig's most famous lines is "help enough people get
what they want and you can have everything that you want",
Brian's number one piece of advice is "Do what you resolve
to do", and Jim is continually preaching the benefits of
service to others. All of these suggest that your level of
conscientiousness is directly proportional to your personal
and financial success.
The three biggest goals that almost anyone has relate to a
health goal, a relationship goal and a financial goal. Old
advice and new research come together to support the idea
that your level of conscientiousness is a primary predictor
of your ability to succeed in all of these areas.
Live long and prosper
Sometimes it's difficult in today's fast paced, stressed
out society, to slow down and do the best job possible at
whatever you do. Whether it's your career, your hobbies,
your volunteer work, your health or your valued
relationships. But maybe if we all worked on our level of
conscientiousness a little bit more we could set ourselves
up for a much better future, financially and cognitively.
In the words of Dr. Spock (the Vulcan, not the baby
doctor), "Live long and prosper".
----------------------------------------------------
Master Brain Fitness techniques for you and your family.
Your Brain Fitness holds is the key to unlock your maximum
potential. Dr. Simon Evans puts together the right
ingredients in right amount to create the recipe for
success. Visit http://www.BrainFitForLife.com for FREE
Brain Fitness resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment