“The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else.”
― Carson McCullers, The Square Root of Wonderful
If you have ever felt a warm glow after helping someone, then you already know that caring is a two-way street – both participants benefit from the experience. Helpful people live longer. A Detroit survey asked 423 married couples over the age of 65 if they had helped anyone in the previous year; the researchers found those who said they had helped someone were about half as likely to die within five years as those who did not help.
While scientists do not yet understand the connection between helpfulness and good health, they do think helping others causes a rise in oxytocin, the “compassion hormone,” which overrides the stress hormone cortisol. This shift in hormones could explain why helping others makes you feel better.
Caring people gain respect in their communities. The public admires and respects doctors, nurses, religious leaders, firefighters, teachers, and others in occupations that require compassion.
Caring for others has financial rewards, as well. The medical profession is one of the few occupations where wages continue to rise, and there will always be a need for caretakers. If you are not a doctor or nurse, you can still reap the fiscal benefits of caring for others by opening a home care franchise that specializes in in-home care or assisted living placement services. Contact Always Best Care Senior Services for more information about opening a home care business.
