Generosity not only warms the heart, it also protects it and leads to longer lives, say researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver in the journal Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Scientists analyzed the impact of altruism on the physical health of 106 teenagers. This is the first study to reveal the health benefits of helping others.
The observation was made by separating the young people into two groups. A first group of 52 students were asked to devote one hour a week of their extra-curricular time to helping school children in difficulty. This help was offered in the form of various activities such as drawing, homework help for an entire semester. The second group had to wait until next semester before they could engage in volunteer activities. A roundabout way of comparing the impact of volunteering. Over this period, the researchers measured the evolution at the beginning and at the end of the semester of their body mass index (BMI), their cholesterol and their level of inflammation. Their moral well-being (self-esteem, change in mood, feeling of altruism) was also taken into account.
Empathy is good for BMI
Comparisons between the two groups showed better results in the active adolescent volunteer group than the waitlist group. They had lower cholesterol levels and BMI than the second group. “Those who had shown the most empathy and altruism in carrying out their tasks were also those whose cardiovascular health had improved the most”, explains Hannah Schreier, author of the study.
Self-sacrifice keeps us healthy, just like kindness which acts as an antidepressant and euphoriant by stimulating the secretion of serotonin. If doing good to others does us even more good, we might as well take advantage of it.
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