The Sims 4: Lifestyles and Lifestyle Effects
With The Sims 4: Snowy Escape, you now have access to a brand new personality system lifestyles! These are awesome because they are a reflection of what your sim is doing now and not just a static trait that your sim started at the beginning of their life, that you are unable to change later on.
It’s cool because it really does reflect how you are playing in the moment and the things that your sim is doing now and will grow with them!
How Lifestyles Work
Lifestyles are based on a point system that is hidden in the game. Your sim is able to earn a daily cap for each lifestyle, making it so it takes a while to actually get a lifestyle to be active.
You can make a lifestyle get into progress after just a few of the necessary tasks, and can make that lifestyle active for your sim after about a week in sim’s time.
You’ll be able to see which lifestyles your sims are currently experiencing in their simology panel right under their traits, but above public image and NAPs. You can click the lifestyles button to see all of the available lifestyles, as well as which ones you have in progress or have active.
How to Gain a Specific Lifestyle
Each lifestyle has specific tasks that link right up to it. For example, if you want to have an outdoorsy lifestyle you’ll want to spend time outside, you could swim, go on hikes, go camping, and more. However, on the flip side if you want to gain the indoorsy lifestyle you can spend time inside and read books, play video games, and hangout.
Below you’ll find a list of all 16 available lifestyles and some insight into what you want to do to gain them.
How to Remove a Lifestyle
Unlike traits your sims’ lifestyles can change and decay rather quickly, allowing your sim to experience many different ones over time. This means that you can choose to actively remove a lifestyle!
To get your sim to no longer have a specific lifestyle you just need to completely stop participating in the types of things that will give your sim that lifestyle. For example, a sim who has the adrenaline seeker lifestyle would stop doing things like fighting, doing extreme sports, and more.
You won’t be able to remove them immediately, unless you use cheat codes to remove them from your sim.
Types of Lifestyles
1. Adrenaline Seeker
“Adrenaline Seeker is a lifestyle for sims who seek out danger, adventures, and sometimes even drama to ride the wave of an adrenaline rush. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, explore dangerous locales, get into fights, woohoo outside, work in a dangerous career, and seek out excitement in all its forms. Just be sure to avoid the mundane!”
In the game, there are pre-written lifestyle effects that your sim will get when this lifestyle is in effect. They include the following:
- Various benefits when thrill-seeking
- Avoids boring conversations
- Does not panic during fire, finds it exciting
- Increased work performance in dangerous careers
- Can talk about new adventure and enthuse about thrill seeking with other sims
- Can fight for the rush after having gone too long without a thrill
- Will get bored when performing mundane interactions
- Gets tense when going too long without excitement
2. Close Knit
“Sims living a close-knit lifestyle prefer to form deep connections with a small circle of friends. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, a sim should keep their friend count between one and three sims while seeking to deepen the relationships they do have.”
In game there are a series of lifestyle effects that will happen to your sim as they live with a specific lifestyle, for close-knit you have the following lifestyle effects:
- Keeps Good Friends longer but has a harder time staying friends with sims at lower relationship levels
- More likely to gain long term sentiments with friends
- Can “as to be confidant” and gains unique socials with confidant
- Will get tense when without friends or when friend groups grows to four or more sims
3. Coffee Fanatic
“Sims who live a coffee fanatic lifestyle want nothing more than another cup of java in order to reap its benefits. To Acquire or maintain this lifestyle, drink a lot of coffee.”
The set of lifestyle effects for the coffee fanatic lifestyle include:
- Various benefits after drinking coffee
- will make and drink more coffee than other sims
- brewed coffee is always outstanding quality
- increase skill gain in all skills after drinking coffee
- can talk about benefits of coffee
- can lament the detriments of coffee
- can work caffeinated shift when they are at work
- Increased work performance after drinking coffee
- uncomfortable when going too long without coffee
4. Energetic
“Sims who live an energetic lifestyle love to stay active and keep moving. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, seek out athletic and sporty activities or join a high energy career.”
The in-game list of lifestyle effects for energetic include:
- Various benefits when performing high-energy activities
- Prefers to perform high energy activities
- Increased work performance in high energy careers
- Decreased work performance in low energy careers
- Dislikes low-energy activities and becomes tense when going without activity for too long
5. Frequent Traveler
“Frequent travelers make a habit of visiting new and exciting places and want to experience everything these locales have to offer. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, travel for vacations, visit exotic hidden destinations, and seek out new experiences when traveling.”
A sim with the frequent traveler lifestyle will have the following lifestyle effects:
- Various benefits when traveling to another world or when taking a vacation
- Increased skill gain in all skills while on vacation
- Increased work performance and other benefits after returning from a vacation
- Can ask about home region on locals to gather destination suggestions
- Can share travel stories after a vacation
- bored after having gone too long without travel
6. Health Food Nut
“Sims who live a health food nut lifestyle are devoted to eating nutrient-filled foods. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, eat healthy foods and harvestables while avoiding quick meals, desserts, or anything that may seem unhealthy.”
The in-game lifestyle effects for this lifestyle include:
- Various benefits when eating healthy food
- Prefers to cook and eat healthy food
- Can cook healthy meal to make alternative healthy recipe options
- Increased weight loss and fitness gain while working out after eating a meal made by cook healthy meal
- Can evangelize benefits of health food to others
- displeased by eating junk food
- gets tense when going too long without eating healthy food
7. Hungry for Love
“Sims living a hungry for love lifestyle have a strong desire to be in a relationship and struggle to deal with life without one. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, engage with romantic media or attempt to romance other sims.”
A sim who is hungry for love will have the following lifestyle effects:
- Various benefits when in a romantic relationship
- Prefers romantic behaviour and is more like to succeed when being romantic
- Acquires romantic sentiments more easily
- Enjoys romantic media
- Increased Work performance when in a romantic relationship
- Tense when not in a romantic relationship
8. Indoorsy
“Sims living an indoorsy lifestyle prefer to be within the confines of an indoor space. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, prioritize doing activities indoors rather than outdoors.”
A sim who has the indoorsy lifestyle active will have the following lifestyle benefits:
- Various benefits when doing indoor activities
- Prefers to be indoors
- Decreased work performance in outdoor careers
- Tense when spending too much time outside rather than inside
9. Junk Food Fiend
“Sims who live a junk food fiend lifestyle crave snacks and sweets and are enthusiasts of spicing food up with sugar and bacon! To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, eat quick meals, desserts, or anything that may seem unhealthy as a rule. Just be sure to avoid eating healthy.”
A sim who is a junk food fiend is going to have a few lifestyle effects:
- Various benefits when eating junk food
- prefers to eat junk food
- can add sugar or add bacon to regular food, turning it into junk food
- can evangelize benefits of junk food to others
- displeased by eating healthy food
- tense when going too long without junk food
10. Outdoorsy
“Sims living an outdoorsy lifestyle prefer to be outside, taking in the fresh air. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, prioritize doing activities outdoors rather than indoors.”
The lifestyle effects that a sim who is outdoorsy will experience include:
- various benefits when doing outdoor activities
- prefers to be outdoors
- increased work performance in outdoor careers
- tense when spending too much time inside
11. People Person
“Sims living a people person lifestyle have an easier time building and maintaining a large friend group, sometimes at the cost of connecting with those friends. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, a sim should have four or more friends.”
A sim who happens to be a people person will have the following lifestyle effects:
- Keeps lower relationship level friends easier but struggles to keep good friends or higher
- Various benefits when interacting with three or more friends at a time or making a new friend
- Less likely to gain long-term sentiments with their friends
- greater need to be social
- tense when friend group contains fewer than four sims
12. Sedentary
“Sims who live a sedentary lifestyle favour relaxing and lounging in all its forms, and prefer to avoid exerting themselves. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, pursue low-energy activities that allow a sim to relax, sit and lounge around or join a low-energy career.”
The in-game lifestyle effects for this lifestyle say:
- Various benefits when performing low-energy activities
- Prefers to perform low-energy activities
- Increased work performance in low-energy careers
- Decreased work performance in high-energy careers
- Tense when performing high-energy activities or when going too long without doing relaxing activities
13. Single and Lovin’ It
“Sims living a single and lovin’ it lifestyle happily enjoy the single life and savour their independence. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle avoid being in a committed romantic relationship and avoid romantic media.”
The in-game lifestyle effects for the single and lovin’ it lifestyle say things like:
- Various benefits when single
- Increased skill gain while single
- Less likely to acquire romantic sentiments
- Finds romantic media (i.e., movies) somewhat unrealistic
- Increased Work Performance when Single
- Tense when in a New Committed Romantic Relationship
14. Techie
“Live a life immersed in technology! To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, interact regularly with electronics and technology or join a tech-related career.”
The game has a list of Iifestyle effects that your sim will experience when they have the techie lifestyle in place:
- Various benefits when interacting with technology
- Prefers to use technology over non-electronic objects
- Increased skill gain in Programming and Rocket Science
- Can apply the overclocked upgrade to computers
- Can Enthuse about Processing Power with other sims
- Improved Success when repairing and upgrading elecronics
- Increased Work Performance in Tech Careers
- Tense when on a lot without power or when going without tech for too long
15. Technophobe
“A lifestyle dedicated to the avoidance of technology! To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, a sim should pursue a livelihood without power or technology, even going so far as to sabotage or break electronics from time to time.”
The lifestyle effects from having the technophobe lifestyle include:
- Various benefits relating to broken electronics, when on a lot without power, or when a lot has the off-the grid lot trait
- Prefers to avoid using tech
- Can intentionally sabotage electronics
- Decrease work performance in tech-related careers
- Tense when using tech
16. Workaholic
“Sims living a workaholic lifestyle tend to fixate on their careers by working extra hard and rarely taking breaks. To acquire or maintain this lifestyle, pursue promotions, work hard while at work, complete daily tasks, and abstain from taking days off.”
There are a couple lifestyle effects that happen to your sim when you have this as an active lifestyle:
- Needs decay slower while at work
- Increased work performance gain
- Difficulty in keeping long term relationships
- Can “Go to Work During Off Hours” and “Demand Promotion from Boss”
- Receives extra work-related benefits when in the SalaryPerson Career
- Gets Tense when neglecting work duties or doesn’t have a job
How to Cheat a Lifestyle
There are two ways to cheat lifestyles for your sims, the first way is to use the shift click cheats. First you want to turn on cheats by hitting ctrl + shift + c and type in testingcheats true. Then you can hold down shift and click on your sim and choose cheat sim info and then choose add or remove lifestyles and you’ll be able to choose a lifestyle to add or remove.
The second way to cheat a lifestyle in the game is to use hidden trait cheats. The following cheats can be used, and if you change the word equip to remove you can get rid of a lifestyle too!
| Effect | Cheat Code |
| Adds the Adrenaline Seeker Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_adrenalineseeker |
| Adds the Close Knit Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_closeknit |
| Adds the Coffee Fanatic Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_coffeefanatic |
| Adds the Energetic Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_energetic |
| Adds the Frequent Traveller Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_frequenttraveler |
| Adds the Health Food Nut Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_healthfoodnut |
| Adds the Hungry for Love Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_hungryforlove |
| Adds the Indoorsy Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_indoorsy |
| Adds the Junk Food Fiend Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_JunkFoodDevourer |
| Adds the Outdoorsy Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_outdoorsy |
| Adds the People Person Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_networker |
| Adds the Sedentary Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_sedentary |
| Adds the Single and Lovin’ It Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_noneedforromance |
| Adds the Techie Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_techie |
| Adds the Technophobe Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_technophobe |
| Adds the Workaholic Lifestyle | traits.equip_trait trait_lifestyles_workaholic |
Final Thoughts
Lifestyles may honestly be one of my favourite things that the sims team has added to The Sims 4 in recent memory. It gives your sims more depth and makes them way more interesting than ever before, especially since these are dynamic and change over time. Good job EA! Keep doing stuff like this, please!