At this time of the year it is good to think of ourselves from an altruistic sense. One of my family's favorite commercials is the one demonstrating a chain of events with a person helping another, which influences someone else to do the same, and eventually the person who started the chain is the beneficiary of a benevolent act. I have seen many people get emotional when they tell me about an act of kindness noted in their day-to-day activities. One day, a woman told me she saw a person having difficulty and, as common for her, she provided assistance. Unknown to her, a person was watching and made note of the kind act, praising her for it. Even before the statement, she felt a very positive feeling inside that escalated after the comment.
This positive feeling actually made her wonder whether helping others on a regular basis would make someone healthier. My first impression was, "It certainly can't hurt." But to go further and wonder whether it is actually healthy was an interesting thought. I already knew studies have shown that laughter can be therapeutic, or in other words, healthy. Did you know one study showed people with heart disease were 40 percent less likely to laugh at humorous situations? Believe it or not, there are people who use laugh therapy to improve relationships and reduce chronic pain.
I also knew bad feelings, as with stress, definitely has a negative impact on health, increasing the likelihood of developing heart disease and decreasing chemotactic factors (factors that help white blood cells come to the rescue), thus decreasing the ability to fight off disease. Mental stress has been shown to damage the endothelium, which is the inner lining of blood vessels where atherosclerosis (the process of building blockages in the blood vessels) begins. Positive attitudes, on the other hand, improve chemotactic factors so significantly that sessions to focus on body healing have been used in helping to fight cancer.
Many people don't know that we all have within us the ability to produce a natural morphine-like substance known as beta-endorphins. These substances are produced in the pituitary gland and a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus. Endorphins were credited as the reason some prisoners of war became immune to the pain of repeated torture in Vietnam. It is also why warriors and athletes often fail to feel pain when injured until several hours later. As another example of how endorphins help us, a significant proportion of people who take a sugar pill for a headache will get relief (called a "placebo effect") and is felt to be due to the release of endorphins. There is a type of high some people get when they exercise a lot that is attributed to an endorphin release as well. With joy often comes a feeling of elation and euphoria that has also often been attributed to these endorphins. Could this also explain the good feeling we get when we help someone?
The natural tendency is for everyone to look out for themselves. Isn't it ironic that most religions are focused on being selfless. Will being selfless help us live longer? Of course there are many stories of old miserly men, such as Scrooge, and Mr. Potter on "It's a Wonderful Life," but Scrooge was about to meet his end if he didn't change, and Mr. Potter seemed to be a unique character in town. We are told and hear songs that say, "Only the good die young."
So is giving of yourself to others healthy? You will have to decide, but one thing I can say, "It certainly can't hurt." Try it for a few weeks and see if you feel better. And maybe, just maybe, you'll live longer because of it. And the preacher would say that you just might live an eternity.
Dr. John Hutto is a cardiologist at Orangeburg Cardiovascular Clinic and the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg.