Benefits of helping others

According to research, helping others gives you a mental boost by providing you with a neurochemical sense of reward. When you do something kind to help somebody else, your body produces happy hormones and endorphins that foster positive emotions. Focusing on someone else’s needs also helps you to forget about your own problems. This can be a benefit of volunteering, or simply a random act of kindness. See more about happiness here in the Allianz Care Happiness Hub. 

Helping others and making a difference in someone else’s life is one of the best ways to give your life meaning. According to research, helping others enhances your sense of purpose and identity - particularly if you no longer hold a life-defining role such as an employee or parent.

Helping others isn’t only good for your health – it can also help you to live longer, research has shown. Volunteering has many benefits and regular volunteering, for example, can improve your ability to manage stress, boost your immune system and in turn protect you against disease. Volunteering can enhance your social life, thereby decreasing loneliness, especially in older adults, which is a huge benefit of volunteering.

Discover more benefits of volunteering here: The positive feeling you get from helping others has an impact on how you see yourself. Studies have found that people who volunteer have higher self-esteem than people who don’t volunteer. This particular benefit increases with consistency - the more regularly you volunteer, the more your self-esteem and confidence increase.

Research shows that helping others can reduce symptoms of both acute and chronic pain. When you engage in altruistic behaviours, you can help reduce any pain you experience. Altruistic behaviour can be defined as ‘the unselfish concern for other people—doing things simply out of a desire to help, not because you feel obligated to out of duty, loyalty, or religious reasons.’ It is said that the part of the brain that reacts to painful stimulation appears to be instantly deactivated by the experience of helping others. 

It turns out that helping others can also help protect you from high blood pressure. According to studies, older adults who spend time doing volunteer work are associated with lower diastolic blood pressure. As we get older, social transitions such as retirement, bereavement and the departure of children from the home often leave us with fewer opportunities for social interaction. Helping others strengthens social connections which in turn promotes healthy aging.

A benefit of helping others is that it can create new friendships and bonds between you and like-minded people with similar values and interests. It can help you feel like part of a community that’s making a difference. 

If you’ve ever been the recipient of a random act of kindness you may have felt the urge to pass the kindness on to someone else. And when you choose to help others, it can inspire further acts of kindness in others too. 

Remember to always look after your help and your families well being with Allianz Care International Health Insurance. Find the right health plan to suit your specific needs.