Outgoing people tend to be overweight, while anxious types are more likely to be thin, according to Japanese researchers who examined the links between personality and body mass index.

    More than 30,000 people in northeastern Japan aged between 40 and 64 were quizzed about their height and weight, and given a personality test, according to a study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

    The results showed that outgoing people were far more likely than other people to have a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25, a WHO definition of overweight, said Masako Kakizaki of Tohoku University, who led the analysis.

    After controlling for other factors, such as smoking, men in the most extrovert category were 1.73 times more likely to be obese than their most introvert counterparts. Extrovert women were 1.53 times as likely to be obese.

    People ranked as having the most anxious personalities were twice as likely as the least anxious to be underweight, or have a BMI of less than 18.5, the study found.

    "These results may provide clues to devising more effective measures for preventing overweight, obesity or underweight," the researchers said in their paper.

    日本研究人員對人的性格與體重指數之間的關系進行了探究，并發現性格外向的人容易肥胖，而焦慮不安的人則易瘦。

    《身心健康研究》期刊中的一篇論文稱，研究人員對日本東北部地區3萬多名年齡在40歲至64歲之間受訪者的身高和體重進行了調查，并對他們進行了性格測試。

    據研究負責人、日本東北大學的Masako Kakizaki介紹，研究結果表明，性格外向的人體重指數大于25的幾率遠遠高于其他性格類型的人。根據世界衛生組織的標準，體重指數大于25即為“超重”。

    在排除抽煙等其它因素的影響后，研究人員發現，最外向型男性肥胖的幾率為最內向型的1.73倍，最外向女性肥胖的幾率為最內向女性的1.53倍。

    研究發現，最易焦慮的人體重不達標的可能性更大，其體重指數小于18.5的幾率為性格不焦慮型的兩倍。

    研究人員在研究論文中提到：“研究結果也許能為找到更有效預防體重超標、肥胖或體重不足的辦法提供線索。”