Attention, neurotic Woody Allen types: you really ought to get out more.

That’s the latest news from researchers exploring whether people with certain personality traits are more likely than others to develop dementia. Past studies consistently have shown that worriers -who get stressed easily and are prone to anxiety and depression - are more likely to develop dementia later in life.

Now a new report from Sweden suggests that neurotics can shape their destiny to some extent, because lifestyle also plays a role. The study appeared on Tuesday in the journal Neurology.

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm followed a group of 506 people ages 78 and older who had no dementia at the beginning of the study. The subjects completed a personality questionnaire and were interviewed about their lifestyles, and then were monitored for several years, with medical exams at three years and again at six years.

After six years, 144 adults in the group had developed dementia. The researchers analyzed the accumulated data for possible associations between cognitive function, neuroticism and other characteristics, as well as lifestyle factors.