Acts of generosity don’t just lead to emotional satisfaction – they promote physical health and healing, research shows.
Patients with chronic pain fared better when they counselled other patients with similar conditions, according to a study from Boston College in Massachusetts. The researchers speculated that by helping others deal with their pain, patients better understood their own situation.
Meanwhile, another U.S. study showed elderly people who volunteered for more than four hours a week were 44 per cent less likely to die during the study period.
It’s thought altruism may stimulate the production of feel-good chemicals such as brain opioids and oxytocin, which play a role in our immune system.
And Harvard University psychologists found people who watched Mother Teresa helping others showed an increase in the antibody immunoglobulin A.
By contrast, being self-centered may be harmful. A study of 150 heart patients published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine found those who talked about themselves at length or used more first-person pronouns had more severe heart disease and did worse on treadmill tests.
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