Loneliness viewed as strongest link to premature death
People who cry at movies have higher chances of dying young
(Web Desk) - In a new study, scientists have found that those who cry during movies, fear rejection or interpret some normal situation as threatening are at an increased risk of early death.
The study has found that these are behaviour patterns in those who suffer from neuroticism and that such personality traits increase the risk of premature death by 10 per cent.
Neuroticism is related to negative emotions like sadness, fear and irritability but also has other components like anxiety and loneliness which impact a person's mind and body.
Loneliness was identified as the strongest predictor of premature death by scientists because this increases the chances of respiratory and digestive system diseases and intentional self-harm, the researchers suggested.
Mood swings and feeling fed up are other aspects of neuroticism which are related to higher mortality risk.
The team discovered that the link was strongest in men and has been found prevalent in people younger than age 54 as well as those who did not have a college degree.
A team of researchers from Florida State University looked into data from the United Kingdom Biobank. The Biobank has a massive database of biological samples, genetics, health information and lifestyles from half a million people.
The Biobank had information on around 500,000 individuals whose neuroticism evaluation was completed between 2006 and 2010.
Scientists tracked the life of these individuals for 17 years. The 'vital status' data and neuroticism scores of the participants were used by the research team to investigate whether the personality trait and certain components had a strong relation to premature death.
In the 17 years, out of around 500,000 participants, 43,400 had died which is about 8.8 per cent of the total sample size.
As per the data, the average age at death was 70 years and the primary cause of death was cancer, which was followed by nervous system, respiratory system and digestive system diseases.
Those who faced respiratory or digestive issues were reportedly feeling 'fed up' in the evaluation.
In the group, nearly 291 people had died of intentional self-harm. These people said that they felt guilt and mood swings and were constantly stressed.
However, those who scored higher neuroticism reportedly felt loneliness.
"It was surprising that loneliness had a much stronger impact than other components of neuroticism," said Antonio Terracciano, senior author and Florida State University professor of geriatrics, while speaking to PsyPost.
"The findings indicate that those who reported being lonely were at much higher risk of death than those who felt anxious or guilty," he further said.
