How Helping Fellow Caregivers Helps You
The Golden Rule, Karma, whatever you want to call it, “doing unto others as you would have done to you” is used so often it seems cliché. But, as it turns out, this advice goes beyond principle and may in fact be backed by science. Psychologists have dubbed it the “helper’s high”—a blissful feeling that you get after you do something for someone else that is helpful or kind.
These euphoric emotions are attributed to mood-boosting chemicals, mainly dopamine and oxytocin, that are released in the brain after a person performs a good deed. While regular volunteering or random acts of kindness may not make it to the top of a busy caregiver’s to-do list, there is a simple way of tapping into this mutually beneficial practice.
