An article published in the Times of India in January 2017 reported a study that claimed helping others actually added years to your own life. It said “ A 20-year-long study of survival data for more than 500 people aged 70-103 years that has recently been published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior found that people who occasionally watched and cared for others lived longer than people who didn’t.” and that “The researchers believe positive emotions experienced from helping others may combat the negative effects of emotions like stress.”
We human beings are hardwired to help each other because our survival depends on it. Unfortunately though, very often in the hustle bustle of life we sometimes start focusing only on ourselves. Such self involvement can break us away from others and such isolation has been proven to increase depression and feelings of hopelessness or helplessness. On the other hand, ‘giving’ to other people has myriad benefits on a psychological and even physiological level.
Making a difference in another person’s life can make you look at your own in a more positive way and generally makes you more optimistic and positive about life. It will change your attitude and give you a perspective to deal with your own problems while being appreciative of what you have.
Helping other people has an effect on the reward centre in our brain and releases certain chemicals like oxytocin which make us feel good and prod us to do more good. It makes us feel more connected to our fellow human beings and in turn improves our sense of worth, our self esteem and overall well being.
Of course when you help others, they also become predisposed to helping you out in times of need, or even just trying to make a contribution to your life. Sometimes, you might earn unanticipated benefits where someone you help puts in a good word with your boss, or nominates you for some grant or prize etc. At the least you start a ‘pay it forward’ chain and contribute to overall happiness in the world.
The only word of caution to keep in mind is to not keep helping with the expectation of some immediate and tangible reward. Life and good will works in mysterious ways and will hit you in unexpected ways at unexpected times. You will get the most benefit when you do things for the joy of giving rather than for what you will get out of it. Only remember, what goes around, does indeed come around and as you start giving abundantly you will open yourself up to receiving in abundance too.
