For the study, which was published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health, participants – all married couples in which the husband’s age was 65 or more – were asked how much of their time they spent helping others, and whether or not they had recently experienced stressful life events. This research was originally carried out between 1987 and 1994, and the current researchers analysed data from just over half of this cohort (846 participants or 423 couples) statistically testing the relationship between helping others, stress and mortality over time.
The results were that people who experienced stressful events had a higher risk of death, which is in-keeping with previous studies. However, the researchers also found that people who experienced stressful events and spent time helping others did not have a higher risk of death, which the investigators interpreted to mean that helping others buffers against the negative impact of stressful life events.
According to the study’s authors, there is a known relationship between social connectedness, or the amount of people you interact with in a meaningful way, and wellness. In the last 20 years, there have been multiple studies carried out in an attempt to describe this relationship more fully, but with inconsistent results. The benefit of this study is that it is the first to look at whether giving, rather than receiving social support is the source of the link.
Yet it’s important to bear in mind that though observational research can describe the associations between helping, stress and longevity, it is unable to determine whether helping behaviour directly causes changes in the risk of dying. On the other hand, giving to others is surely no bad thing so don’t let a little thing like an unproven cause-and-effect relationship stop you from being generous.