Researchers from University College London (UCL) have found that people with certain personality traits may benefit from certain workouts more than others and that some people may particularly profit from the stress-relieving effects of exercise.
Such an insight is important as less than one quarter of the global population hit World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended activity targets. Here, adults aged 18–64 years should:
- Should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity throughout the week, or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both.
- For additional health benefits, adults should increase their moderate-intensity physical activity to 300 minutes per week, or equivalent.
- Muscle-strengthening activities should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.
One way of achieving this could be opting for types of exercise that fit our personalities. To this end, researchers in the UK now have examined how personality affects what types of exercise we prefer, and our commitment and engagement to them.
To address this, a new UCL study suggests the trick may be matching workouts to our personalities: extroverts thrive in high-energy group sports, neurotics prefer private bursts with breaks, and everyone sees stress levels drop when they find exercise they enjoy.
According to Dr Flaminia Ronca from University College London’s (UCL) Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health: “We found that our personality can influence how we engage with exercise, and particularly which forms of exercise we enjoy the most.”
Ronca adds: “Understanding personality factors in designing and recommending physical activity programs is likely to be very important in determining how successful a program is, and whether people will stick with it and become fitter.”
Different sports for different people
The researchers recruited participants that attended lab testing for baseline fitness. They then split them into two groups; the first group was provided with an eight-week home-based fitness plan made up of cycling and strength training (intervention group), the other group continued their usual lifestyle (control group).
During laboratory testing, the first intervention week, and after the intervention, all participants completed a questionnaire on how much they’d enjoyed each training session. The personality traits examined in the study included extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness.
The test
It was found that people scoring high on extraversion enjoyed high intensity sessions with others around, including team sports. On the contrary, people scoring high on neuroticism preferred private workouts. While they are fine with high intensity, they need short breaks in between.
Others, scoring high on consciousness and openness were found to engage in exercise regardless of whether they particularly enjoyed it or were driven by curiosity, respectively.
Stress less
What was also interesting was the relationship between personality, change in fitness, and stress, the researchers said. Before the intervention, the stress levels of both groups were similar.
After the intervention, however, especially people who scored high in neuroticism showed a strong reduction in stress. “It’s fantastic news, as it highlights that those who benefit the most from a reduction in stress respond very well to exercise,” Ronca states.
What does all this mean?
The researchers pointed out that the most important part about exercising is finding something we enjoy and not to be discouraged if we don’t immediately find it. “It’s ok if we don’t enjoy a particular session,” Ronca explains. “We can try something else.”
The study appears in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, with the paper headed: “Personality traits can predict which exercise intensities we enjoy most, and the magnitude of stress reduction experienced following a training program.”
