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Healthy Helping

By David S. Sobel, M.D.

Clearly, doing good feels good. The very act of helping may also improve your health. The benefits of healthy helping extend beyond the person being helped. Self-centered concentration on exercise, nutrition, and making more money is not enough to care for the body or soul. In fact, excessive preoccupation with our own comfort and discomfort can lead to depression, poor health, and life without meaning.

Evidence suggests that a regular regimen of helping may be as important to our health as exercise and good nutrition. In a study of 2,700 residents of Tecumseh, Mich., for example, men who volunteered for community organizations were 2 _ times less likely to die from all causes of disease than the men who did no volunteer work.

A national survey involving 3,300 volunteers from all fields provides more evidence that caring is good for you. Nearly 95 percent of the volunteers reported that helping on a regular basis gave them an immediate pleasurable feeling.

This phenomenon is called "helper’s high." It consists of physical and emotional sensations that include sudden warmth, a surge of energy, and a sense of euphoria immediately after helping. It is more likely to occur when the helping involves personal contact, such as tutoring children, reading to the blind, or visiting the sick.

People who experienced helper’s high said they felt their health was better than those who didn’t help. Nine out of ten individuals said that they were healthier than others their own age. Other studies show that perception of good health is one of the strongest predictors of a person’s future health and longevity.

Selflessness, generosity, kindness, and service are more than moral virtues. They are part of what it means to be truly human. They may also be key to breaking the cycle of fear and tension now gripping our self-centered society. True well-being is achieved only when we feel connected to something beyond ourselves, whether it’s other people, pets, or plants.
While more volunteering may not solve all the problems in our society, it is a way to get involved in our communities. Volunteering forms bonds. It changes our experience of us and them to we. It also strengthens our sense of community.

Source: Partners in Health, Kaiser Permanente, Winter 1997