Is Your Personality Making You Fat?

The Wall Street Journal’s article Is Your Personality Making You Put on Pounds listed some personality traits that may affect weight gain. Some of the links between personality and weight gain include weight gain in people who are:

Less Agreeable
Night Owls
Stress Junkies
Mindless Multitaskers
Givers
Perfectionists

The author of the article provides some fixes for people who exhibit these traits.

Impulsiveness has also been linked to weight gain. The Huffington Post reported, “A 2006 study by Maastricht University of 26 obese children found that the most overweight children were also the most impulsive. Another study, published in 2008 by the University of Alabama, found that obese women had significantly lower impulse control than normal weight women, while a 1976 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition similarly found that obese women were more likely to be “non-conforming and impulsive” than their non-obese peers.”

Neurotic people also have issues with weight gain. The National Institute of Aging studied nearly 2000 people and found that people with high levels of neuroticism and low levels of conscientiousness displayed more frequent weight increases and decreases.

The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology released a study that studied participants based on the Big Five personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. There were a total of 14,531 assessments across the 50 years of the study. Pyschcentral reported that the results showed, “greater weight gain among impulsive people; those who enjoy taking risks; and those who are antagonistic — especially those who are cynical, competitive and aggressive.” ABCLocal reported that this study showed, “that people who are meaner are more likely to gain weight with age. Those considered more conscientious were likely to be leaner.”

A lead researcher from the Institute of Aging, Angelina Sutin, was interviewed by Boomer Health and Life. Sutin stated, “We hope that by more clearly identifying the association between personality and obesity, more tailored treatments will be created. For example, lifestyle and exercise interventions that are done in a group setting may be more effective for extroverts than for introverts.”

WebMD claims that if you know your diet personality, it can help you lose weight. Weight loss plans should be based on whether you are a:

Support Seeker
Serial Snacker
Free Spirit
Sweet Tooth
Distracted Diner

To find ideal diet plans based on each of these types, click here.

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Top 5 Secrets for Online Student Success

Online education is growing at a pace that far exceeds general education enrollment. Because of the popularity of online learning, many traditional universities are offering online courses. Forbes recently reported that MIT will soon offer free education for everyone. With all of the online options available, students may be confused as to where to go for helpful information. There are plenty of sites available to help online students find schools, locate loans and even determine majors. What is not as readily available is information about how to be a successful online student once he or she is enrolled.

The following is the top 5 list of things that can help the new online student succeed once they have already chosen their school and major. Click on the blue links for more information about each topic:

Learn Goal Setting – Read about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant (sometimes also Results-Based), and Timely (or Time-Bound). Students should set S.M.A.R.T. education goals. Those that neglect to do this may find that it takes them longer to graduate, while they waste time and money.
Learn Tools Offered – Most online universities offer some extremely helpful writing, editing and plagiarism-checking tools. The school’s online site may also have helpful tutorials to explain how to use the software (also known as the platform) that delivers the classroom information. Learning how to navigate in the online classroom may take a little time. However, after taking the first class, many students feel more confident in their navigating abilities.
Use the School’s Library – Students may forget that their university has an online library. It is important that students do not get in the habit of searching for information using Google, Yahoo! and other similar engines. A well-written paper is supported by peer-reviewed articles. These may be easily found using the school’s search engines located in their online library.
Learn APA – APA stands for American Psychological Association. For college students, APA refers to the format in which papers should be written. While APA may seem daunting to the new learner, there are some very useful examples of APA papers online that can help explain the requirements.
Learn How to Cite – Professors often require students to cite research in his or her papers. Most often they must cite in APA format. There are some helpful sites to help students learn how to cite correctly. Students must also learn how to paraphrase, include in-text citations and avoid plagiarism.

Click here for more useful tips about how to be a successful online college student.

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