Altruism: How helping others can benefit your health and wellbeing!

Altruism involves helping others. But did you know, altruism offers a range of health and wellbeing benefits for you too? 

Here are 5 benefits of Altruism 

1.     When we help others through altruistic acts our brain gets ‘rewired’ for happiness.

That’s right! You really do have the ability to create structural changes to your own brain. And evidence shows that one effective way to do this is by helping others. Altruistic behaviour works to create physiological changes in our brain which are linked with happiness. To get a little more technical, new research using FMRI brain scans shows that the higher the level of altruism, the greater your cortical thickness is in regions of the brain which are associated with happiness (Miller et al., 2021).

2.     Altruism is a protective factor for people who have a high risk of depression- and is a known treatment for those experiencing recurrent depression.

The research is clear. If you are at a high risk of depression due to either environmental stressors or familial risk factors, engaging in altruistic behaviour is a protective factor for you (and your brain!) to help prevent future depression, including, Major Depressive Disorder (Hao et al., 2017; Weissman et al., 2016). Furthermore, engaging in altruism has been shown to lower the severity of depressive symptoms for those currently in the midst of depression (Miller et al., 2021).

3.     Helping others, helps us to increase our sense of connection to others (and may even increase our lifespan)!

When we volunteer in our community, or engage in acts which help others, we increase our connection to others in meaningful, loving ways. This type of connection is actually linked to a whole host of psychological and physical indicators of health (Castano, 2013), and is even directly correlated with our lifespan. In other words, meaningful social connection, like that which we gain from engaging in altruistic, community-based acts, can help us to live long and happy lives (Suragarn et al., 2021).

4.     Helping others who are experiencing hardship can help us to shift our perspective

When we help others who are experiencing hardship, we can gain a new perspective on our own lives, as we learn from the experiences of others. This can help us to feel more positive about our own circumstances, and increase our sense of gratefulness and positivity. All of which are linked to happiness and satisfaction (Kerr & Donovan, 2014; Otake et al., 2006).

5.     When we engage in altruism, the whole community benefits!

Of course altruistic acts can help us to feel better about ourselves, and can increase our own individual sense of happiness and connectedness, but did you know altruism can have lasting benefits for your entire community too? Recent research has shown, that engaging in altruistic acts often creates a ripple effect in ones community, by inspiring others to pay it forward (Pressman et al., 2015). So don’t be shy to share what altruistic acts you are getting involved in. You never know the ripples it may cause.

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References

Castano, E. (2013). On Social Connection, Helping, and Altruism. Social Research, 80(2), 383–386

Hao, X., Talati, A., Shankman, S. A., Liu, J., Kaiser, J., Tenke, C. E., Warner, V., Semanek, D., Wickramaratne, P. J., Weissman, M. M., & Posner, J. (2017). Stability of Cortical Thinning in Persons at Increased Familial Risk for Major Depressive Disorder Across 8 Years. Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 2(7), 619–625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.04.009

Kerr, S. L., O’Donovan, A., & Pepping, C. A. (2014). Can Gratitude and Kindness Interventions Enhance Well-Being in a Clinical Sample? J Happiness Stud. 16(1), 17–36. 

Miller, L., Wickramaratne, P., Hao, X., McClintock, C. H., Pan, L., Svob, C., & Weissman, M. M. (2021). Altruism and “love of neighbor” offer neuroanatomical protection against depression. Psychiatry Research. Neuroimaging, 315, 111326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111326

Otake, K., Shimai, S., Tanaka-Matsumi, J., Otsui, K., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2006). HAPPY PEOPLE BECOME HAPPIER THROUGH KINDNESS: A COUNTING KINDNESSES INTERVENTION. Journal of happiness studies, 7(3), 361–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-3650-z

Pressman, S.D., Kraft, T.L., & Cross, M.P. (2015). It’s good to do good and receive good: The impact of a ‘pay it forward’ style kindness intervention on giver and receiver well-being. J Posit Psychol, 10(4), 293–302.

Suragarn, U., Hain, D., & Pfaff, G. (2021). Approaches to enhance social connection in older adults: an integrative review of literature. Aging and Health Research, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahr.2021.100029

. Weissman, M.M, Berry, O.O, Warner, V., Gameroff, M.J., Skipper, J., Talati, A., & Wickramaratne, P. (2016). A 30-year study of 3 generations at high risk and low risk for depression. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(9), 970-977.