Physical Fitness and Personality

Fitness, Health & Longevity

There is a strong link between physical fitness and psychological/physical health (source). Physical attractiveness (body, but not face) is also correlated with physical fitness to some degree (source). The more unfit you are, the higher your resting heart rate and potential cortisol levels (source). Cortisol is a fight-or-flight chemical that, if overproduced, inhibits mental functioning and increases the chance of a heart attack. There are numerous other chemicals that your body overproduces or underproduces when you have reduced fitness.

Aerobic/cardiovascular exercise increases slow-wave sleep (the deepest, most restorative part of sleep) (source), heart rate variability (which correlates with reduced mortality risk) (source), and VO2 max (the best current measure of aerobic/cardiovascular fitness) (source); anaerobic exercise does not. Running is one of the best, most convenient cardiovascular exercises.

A recent study in the Netherlands found that frequent running reduced mortality by a factor of 3.0 (frequent walking only scored 1.4). An even larger study found that those who did 60 minutes or more of vigorous exercise (exercising at 70-85% of one's max heart rate) had four times lower mortality risk than those who did no vigorous exercise (source).

It would seem that if you were going to choose just anaerobic or aerobic exercise, aerobic is better at improving health/lowering mortality risk, with a mix of vigorous and moderate aerobic activity at roughly a one-to-two ratio, with optimal results at 150-300 minutes of vigorous and 300-600 minutes of moderate activity (source). However, there seems to be some evidence that doing both aerobic and anaerobic exercise is even better (source).

Exercise & the MOTIVES Vitality Factor

Daily exercise is one of the more notable actualizable behaviors that I've found to correlate with a higher Vital score on the MOTIVES test. The item 'I exercise every day' is associated (significant factor analytic score/correlation) with XOTXVXX on the MOTIVES system (i.e. high Offbeat, Thinking, and Vital scores).

Ultimately, the best system is probably going to be whatever system you will stick to that is yielding some consistent long-term results (increased fitness, better mood/energy level, keeping in mind that short-term progress is not always a linear progression). For me, currently, it's running every day and walking/staying active as much as possible the rest of the time.

I've been experimenting for many years with real-time indicators of when I need to slow down and sit around/rest to avoid overtraining. Currently, it's persistent soreness in both footpads when walking around. I only eat when I'm hungry, and I also use the aforementioned soreness as an indicator that I need to slow down, as caloric restriction and intermittent fasting have some good research behind them (source). Improving your health/fitness is all about the long game, i.e. years, not months, to achieve notable transformation, and sticking with it every day for the rest of your life.

MOTIVES Traits, Health & Happiness

Of the seven MOTIVES personality drives, being higher on three is associated with being healthier and happier. Those are Offbeat, Thinking, and Vitality, though there is a fall in happiness for Offbeat and Thinking if you are really high. On the Materialism drive, there are similar levels of health and happiness from the middle to the very low range. The other three MOTIVES traits show more happiness near the middle.

Putting the Research Into Practice

It would seem that by engaging in more of the behaviors in the first list, and fewer in the second, you will yield greater happiness/emotional stability.