Dear Friend,
It’s a Fact: Caring Is Good for You!
The Institute of HeartMath reveals five facts highlighting how important caring for others is to our health and well-being. The institute also describes a month-long Facebook contest to honor the service and dedication of nonprofit organizations as part of its HeartMath for Communities Project campaign. And because IHM cares about you and your family, we are offering you one of my favorite HeartMath downloadable e-books for free: Understanding Care.
Caring interacts with the heart – literally: HeartMath research shows the heart plays a dynamic role in generating positive emotions and creating feelings of elation during acts of caring and altruism. J. Andrew Armour, a leading neurocardiologist and member of the IHM’s Scientific Advisory Board, found that the heart contains cells that synthesize and release the so-called feel-good hormones, dopamine and norepinephrine.
Caring can increase feelings of elation, relieve stress: States of joy and delight can result from giving to others. When you are altruistic – helping someone – your oxytocin level goes up, which helps relieve stress and create the feeling of elation. It also has been found that the heart produces oxytocin, commonly referred to as the love or bonding hormone, and those concentrations of oxytocin found in the heart are as high as those found in the brain.
Caring can be contagious: Elation makes us feel great and perform good acts, according to an "elevation study" published in the journal, Psychological Science. Researchers studied individuals who watched TV clips that prompted various moods and found those who viewed uplifting clips were more likely to engage in altruistic behavior soon after.
Caring can mean better health: In a Cornell University study that followed over 313 women for 30 years, researchers found 52 percent of women who did not engage in volunteer work experienced a major illness, compared with only 36 percent of those who volunteered in their communities.†
http://www.heartmath.org/templates/ihm/e-content/broadcasts/general/2011/caring-is-good-for-you/caring-is-good-for-you-online.php
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