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The Science of Helping Out

At a time when weare allexperiencing an extraordinary level of stress,science offers a simple and effective way to bolster our own emotional health.

To help yourself,start by helping others.

Our bodies and minds benefit in a variety of ways when we help others. Some research hasfocused on the “helper’s high.” Studies show that volunteering, donating money,or even just thinking about donating money can release feel-good brainchemicals andactivatethe part of the brain stimulatedby the pleasures of food and sex. Studies of volunteers show thatdo-goodershad lowerlevels of the stress hormone cortisolon days they did volunteer work.

Feeling responsible for other people also can help us cope with whatever challenges life brings. Emily A. Greenfield, an associate professorof social work at Rutgers University,studied a concept called“felt obligation,” which is measured by asking people questions such as how obligated they would feel to give money to a friend in need, even if it meant putting themselves in a bind.

As it turned out,the people who had higher levels of felt obligation —meaning they were the type of people to sacrifice for others — coped better with their own life challenges.

She noted that caring for others helps us to regulate our own emotions and gain a sense of control.“When we remind a friend that social distancing measures are temporary, and this too shall pass, we are also,in effect, reminding ourselves and serving to regulate our own emotions,” she said.

regulate our own emotions 調(diào)節(jié)自己的情緒

gain a sense of control.獲得控制感

put themselves in a bind.?? 自找麻煩

bind? n.困境? in a bind

In effect?? in fact/in practice/ in reality

serve? to do (serve as )起到…的作用

bolster:to support or strengthen sth

eg. Music? training can bolster the brain.

Bolster confidence and self-esteem

Bolster our emotional health

activate(stimulate)

helper's high 助人快感

felt obiligation 感知義務(wù)

stress?hormone cortisol?壓力荷爾蒙皮質(zhì)醇

拓展知識(shí)卡片

快樂荷爾蒙VS壓力荷爾蒙

體內(nèi)能讓我們感到幸?？鞓返乃姆N激素

內(nèi)啡肽-幸福激素

內(nèi)啡肽可以阻止疼痛并幫助我們?cè)跇O端條件下生存，因此它被稱為天然鎮(zhèn)痛劑。在野外，只有在致命危險(xiǎn)的情況下，它的水平才會(huì)急劇上升。例如當(dāng)你被咬，但為了逃命你起初的一小段時(shí)間并不會(huì)感到傷口的疼痛。

那如何才能讓體內(nèi)內(nèi)啡肽增加呢？劇烈的運(yùn)動(dòng)，可以催生這種激素增長。當(dāng)然我們大笑的時(shí)候或者聽某一個(gè)音樂感動(dòng)哭的時(shí)候也會(huì)產(chǎn)生少量內(nèi)啡肽。還有一種方法是將辣椒沾到舌尖，也可以讓內(nèi)啡肽水平增加

多巴胺-動(dòng)力激素

多巴胺負(fù)責(zé)動(dòng)力和激勵(lì)?？梢宰屛覀兏行У墓ぷ鲗W(xué)習(xí)。一旦我們想要認(rèn)真完成某個(gè)目標(biāo)時(shí)并在實(shí)現(xiàn)過程中感到快樂，在血液和大腦中就會(huì)釋放多巴胺，結(jié)合固定的神經(jīng)鏈為我們提供動(dòng)力和激勵(lì)，

如何增加其在體內(nèi)的水平呢？最簡單的方法就是吃一頓。如果你喜歡富含酪氨酸的產(chǎn)品（這種氨基酸產(chǎn)生多巴胺），那么激素的產(chǎn)生會(huì)更加強(qiáng)烈：奶酪，葵花籽，肉類，魚類，豆類等。另一種簡單的方式-喝咖啡或任何含有咖啡因的飲料。

催產(chǎn)素-愛的激素

催產(chǎn)素讓我們感受到人們的感情！喜怒哀樂等等情感.何增加這種激素呢？最簡單的事情是與親人的身體接觸。你可以用手抓住他，擁抱或者只為你談一個(gè)愉快的話題：任何相互作用都會(huì)觸發(fā)激素的釋放。養(yǎng)一只寵物。照顧寵物可以讓我們產(chǎn)生催產(chǎn)素。

血清素-內(nèi)部抗抑郁藥

能量的爆發(fā)，行動(dòng)的欲望，巨大的自信 - 這些都是高水平血清素的主要標(biāo)志。根據(jù)許多研究，這種激素具有與社會(huì)地位的直接連接：反之亦然更多的血清素，更多的機(jī)會(huì)來滿足自己的潛能，并且：這種激素水平低下會(huì)患常見的抑郁癥，強(qiáng)迫癥和冷漠。

「壓力激素」（應(yīng)激性激素，如甲狀腺激素、腎上腺素、糖皮質(zhì)激素、胰島素、及血管緊張素等）的分泌。

眾多激素中對(duì)壓力影響最大的是皮質(zhì)醇，我們稱為「壓力荷爾蒙」。什么是皮質(zhì)醇？壓力引起的其中一個(gè)反應(yīng)，是促使腎上腺素釋放皮質(zhì)醇激素。皮質(zhì)醇也被稱作「壓力荷爾蒙」。皮質(zhì)醇的作用壓力狀態(tài)下身體需要皮質(zhì)醇來維持正常生理機(jī)能；如果沒有皮質(zhì)醇。身體將無法對(duì)壓力作出有效反應(yīng)。適量皮質(zhì)醇有助面對(duì)壓力，但分泌過量易致心情緊張、壓力型肥胖等，過低會(huì)衰弱疲勞。