Health Gem

If you do one thing this week... Do something selfless for another person

If you do one thing this week... Do something selfless for another person

Sometimes it’s better to give than to receive: and it appears that wisdom could be extended to your health.

Altruism, the selfless act of helping another, looks on the surface like a costly behaviour, but studies are finding that as well as imparting the “feelgood” factor – brain studies show that helping others lights up reward-associated regions in the brain – it could more generally leave us feeling good too.

"Various investigations illustrate how human altruism can have beneficial effects on health and wellbeing," points out a recent paper in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.

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Meanwhile, a 2005 paper in the International Journal of Behavioural Medicineconcludes: "A strong correlation exists between the wellbeing, happiness, health and longevity of people who are emotionally and behaviourally compassionate, so long as they are not overwhelmed by helping tasks."