Researchers have found that people who engage in altruistic behaviors seem more resistant to physical pain.
“Scientific data collected over the past two decades has shown how love, or the lack thereof, fundamentally alters our physiology and the regulation of a whole set of biochemicals, substances that can even influence how our genes express themselves within our cells writes Mathieu Ricard in his book:A plea for altruism .
Engaging in altruistic behaviors is costly, but these endeavors seem to influence our health in positive ways. Previous research, for example, has suggested that helping others without expecting anything in return causes the release in the brain of chemicals such as dopamine , which reinforce the feeling of well-being.
But that's not all. Showing altruism could also reduce the feeling of pain, according to a new study .
As part of this work, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers from the Behavioral and Mental Health Laboratory of Peking University (China) conducted four experiments.
In the first experiment, they interviewed two groups of people who donated blood in an effort to evaluate their response to the pain of the prick . People in the first group had taken the step just after an earthquake, while the others gave their blood in the absence of recent disasters.
According to the researchers, people in the first group reported lower pain sensation than people in the second group.
In the second experiment, two groups of people helped migrant children revise a textbook while being exposed to the cold . The people in the first group had volunteered, and the others had not. Again, people in the first group reported less discomfort at temperatures than people in the second group.
For the third experiment, researchers asked cancer patients to cook and clean either for other sick patients or for themselves . Result:those who helped others reported less physical pain inherent in their disease.
Finally, for the last experiment, the researchers have offered to people to donate money to help orphans. Some accepted and others did not. Each of these people then had an MRI while undergoing electric shocks. The researchers then report that those who had given showed less brain response to shock than those who refused to give.
They also found that the more a volunteer felt their donation had helped the orphans, the less they reacted to the electric shock.
“We find consistent behavioral and neural evidence that, in physically threatening situations, acting altruistically can alleviate painful feelings in human performers , conclude the researchers. These findings shed light on the psychological and biological mechanisms underlying human pro-social behavior. They also provide practical information on pain management .
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