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Newton Dad
By Lisa Farino for MSN Health & Fitness (Freelance)
Few of us are immune to the frustrations and challenges of daily life-
family problems, conflicts at work, illness, stress over money. When
we get depressed or anxious, experts may recommend pharmaceuticals or
therapy. But a newly emerging school of thought suggests that a
simple, age-old principle may be part of both the prevention and the
cure: Help others to help yourself.
There's no shortage of research showing that people who give time,
money, or support to others are more likely to be happy and satisfied
with their lives-and less likely to be depressed. Could helping others
be the key to weathering the inevitable storms of life?
Feel-good research
Carolyn Schwartz, a research professor at the University of
Massachusetts Medical School, didn't start out looking at the value of
helping others. Instead, she wanted to see if receiving monthly peer-
support phone calls from fellow multiple sclerosis sufferers would
benefit others with the disease. But over time, a surprising trend
emerged. While those receiving support appeared to gain some mild
benefit, the real beneficiaries were those lending a supportive ear.
In fact, those who offered support experienced dramatic improvements
in their quality of life-several times more so than those they were
helping.
The benefits of giving aren't limited to those who are ill. When
Schwartz later looked at more than 2,000 mostly healthy Presbyterian
church-goers across the nation, she found that those who helped others
were significantly happier and less depressed than those who didn't.
This phenomenon is nothing new. Paul Wink and Michele Dillon found a
similar pattern when they looked at data collected every decade on a
group of San Francisco Bay Area residents beginning in the 1930s.
Those who volunteered and engaged in other forms of giving when they
were adolescents were much less likely to become depressed, even as
they got older.
New research suggests there may be a biochemical explanation for the
positive emotions associated with doing good. In a recent study
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science,
participants' brains were monitored by MRI scans while they made
decisions about donating part of their research payment to charitable
organizations. When participants chose to donate money, the brain's
mesolimbic system was activated, the same part of the brain that's
activated in response to monetary rewards, sex, and other positive
stimuli. Choosing to donate also activated the brain's subgenual area,
the part of the brain that produces feel-good chemicals, like
oxytocin, that promote social bonding.
Why doing good works
These results may seem surprising, especially since our culture tends
to associate happiness with getting something. Why should we humans be
programmed to respond so positively to giving?
"As Darwin noted, group selection played a strong rule in human
evolution. If something like helping benefits the group, it will be
associated with pleasure and happiness," explains Stephen Post, Ph.D.,
a research professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University
who co-authored the book Why Good Things Happen to Good Peoplewith
Jill Neimark.
While evolution may have primed us to feel good from giving, it may
not be the only reason helping others makes us feel better. Since
depression, anxiety, and stress involve a high degree of focus on the
self, focusing on the needs of others literally helps shift our
thinking.
"When you're experiencing compassion, benevolence, and kindness, they
push aside the negative emotions," says Post. "One of the best ways to
overcome stress is to do something to help someone else."
Even better, feeling good and doing good can combine to create a
positive feedback loop, where doing good helps us to feel good and
feeling good also makes us more likely to do good.
"Numerous studies have found that happy people are more helpful," says
Dr. David Myers, a social psychologist at Hope College and author of
The Pursuit of Happiness. "Those who've just found money in a phone
booth are more likely to help a passerby with dropped papers. Those
who feel successful are more likely to volunteer as a tutor."
When giving isn't good
While doing good is generally good for the doer, Post stresses that
there are two important caveats. First, the caregiver can't be
overwhelmed. There's ample research showing negative mental and
physical consequences for givers who are overburdened and stressed by
their duties-or who do so much they don't have time to have fun and
take care of themselves.
In addition, while helping others can be a great antidote to the mild
depression, stress, and anxiety that is a normal part of the ups and
downs daily life, Post emphasizes that it's not a cure for severe
depression. "If you are clinically depressed, you need professional
help," Post says.
But for people who aren't severely depressed and who give within their
limits, helping others can bring joy and happiness-and better health
and longevity too.
Some people wonder if these positive benefits make helping others an
ultimately selfish act. "If the warm glow and 'helper's high' that
people experience when they help others is selfish, then we need more
of this kind of selfishness," says Post.
How to help others-and yourself
Incorporating kindness into your daily life isn't difficult. Here are
five easy things you can do to help others-and yourself:
Volunteer. Research shows that people who volunteer just two hours per
week (about 100 hours per year) have better physical health and are
less depressed. To find volunteer opportunities in your area, visit
Volunteer Match or contact your local church or school.
Informally offer help to family, friends, and neighbors. Lend a needed
tool, bring dinner to someone who's sick, feed pets for neighbors on
vacation, or offer a ride to someone who lacks a car.
Donate. It doesn't have to be a lot of money. Toss change into coffee
cans at cash registers or support local organizations by buying a
raffle ticket. Look for opportunities to give within your means.
You'll help make the world a better place and make yourself feel
better too.
Listen. Sometimes all others need is someone to lend a sympathetic ear
to make them feel heard, cared for and loved.
Make other people (and yourself) smile. The easiest way to make other
people happy is to act happy yourself, even if it's not how you feel.
"Sometimes we can act ourselves into a way of thinking," says Myers.
"So like the old song says, 'Put on a happy face.' Talk as if you have
self-esteem and are outgoing and optimistic. Going through the motions
can awaken the emotions."
More info can be found at:
http://health.msn.com/centers/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100167285>1=10305
Newton Dad
By Newton Dad
A global competition to name the new seven wonders of the world is
attracting widespread interest, with more than 20 million people
voting so far, organizers say.
The Egyptian pyramids are the only surviving structures from the
original list of seven architectural marvels. Long gone are the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple
of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of
Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria. Those seven were
deemed wonders in ancient times by observers of the Mediterranean and
Middle East.
Candidates for the new list have been narrowed down to 21, including
the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal and Peru's Machu
Picchu. The public can vote until July 6, 2007, by Internet or phone.
The seven winners will be announced July 7 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Choosing world wonders has been a continuing fascination over the
centuries. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, or UNESCO, keeps updating its list of World Heritage
Sites, which now totals 830 places.
The "New 7 Wonders of the World" campaign was begun in 1999 by Swiss
adventurer Bernard Weber, with almost 200 nominations coming in from
around the world. Nominations were whittled down by public votes to 77
last year. Then a panel of architectural experts, chaired by former
UNESCO chief Federico Mayor, shortened the list to 21. Interest has
grown as Weber and his 10-member team visit the 21 sites. Their final
visit will be March 6 to New York's Statue of Liberty.
In addition to the Statue of Liberty, Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, Taj
Mahal and Machu Picchu, the finalists are the Acropolis; Turkey's
Haghia Sophia; the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral; the Colosseum;
Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle; Stonehenge; Spain's Alhambra; the
Great Wall; Japan's Kiyomizu Temple; the Sydney Opera House;
Cambodia's Angkor; Timbuktu; Petra, Jordan; Brazil's Statue of Christ
Redeemer; Easter Island; and Chichen Itza, Mexico.
To vote, go to http://www.new7wonders.com or call (011) 372-541-11738
or (011) 423-663-900299. (International phone rates apply.) Here are
descriptions of the 21 candidates:
Acropolis, Greece: A million people come here each year to see the
marble temples-including the ruins of the columned Parthenon-and
statues of Greek gods and goddesses dating from the fifth century
B.C.
Alhambra, Spain: The palace and citadel, perched above Granada, was
the residence of the Moorish caliphs who governed southern Spain in
splendor until 1492, when the city was conquered by the Christian
forces of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, ending 800 years of
Muslim rule. Stunning features include mosaics, arabesques and
mocarabe, or honeycomb work.
Angkor, Cambodia: The archaeological site in Siem Reap was the capital
of the Khmer (Cambodian) empire from the ninth to 15th centuries. It
served as administrative center and place of worship for a prosperous
kingdom that stretched from Vietnam to China and the Bay of Bengal.
The 12th century ruins include Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.
Christ Redeemer Statue, Brazil: The 125-foot statue of Christ the
Redeemer with outstretched arms overlooks Rio de Janeiro from atop
Mount Corcovado. The statue was built in pieces in France starting in
1926, and shipped to Brazil. A railway carried it up the 2,343-foot
mountain for the 1931 inauguration.
Colosseum, Italy: The 50,000-seat amphitheater in Rome was inaugurated
in A.D. 80. Thousands of gladiators dueled to the death here, and
Christians were fed to the lions. The arena has influenced the design
of modern stadiums.
Easter Island, Chile: Hundreds of massive stone busts, or Moais, are
all that remains from the prehistoric Rapanui culture that crafted
them between 400 and 1,000 years ago to represent deceased ancestors.
Some statues are over 70 feet tall. They gaze out on the south Pacific
Ocean more than 1,000 miles off the Chilean mainland.
Eiffel Tower, France: The 985-foot tower, built in 1889 for the
International Exposition, symbolizes Paris. Made almost entirely of
open-lattice wrought iron and erected in only two years with a small
labor force, the tower-Paris' tallest structure-demonstrated advances
in construction techniques, but some initially criticized it as
unaesthetic.