為什么行善有益于你的健康？

The past few months, with a series of disasters seemingly one on top of another, have felt apocalyptic to many, but the bright side to these dark times has been the outpouring of donations and acts of generosity that followed.

過去幾個月來，災(zāi)難似乎一個接一個地發(fā)生，令很多人都有世界末日的感覺。但是在這些黑暗的時刻之中，也有光明的一面，那就是隨之而來的大量捐款與善行。

From Hurricane Harvey flooding Houston to Hurricanes Irma and Maria ripping through the Caribbean to wildfires burning Northern California, cities and charities have been flooded with donations and volunteers. The outpouring of support is critical for helping affected communities to recover. But acts of generosity benefit the do-gooder, too.

從淹沒休斯敦的颶風(fēng)哈維(Hurricane Harvey)，到席卷加勒比地區(qū)的颶風(fēng)艾瑪(Hurricanes Irma)和瑪麗亞(Maria)，乃至蔓延加利福尼亞州北部的山火，在這些災(zāi)難發(fā)生的地方，城市和慈善機構(gòu)無不被大量捐贈和志愿者淹沒。眾多支援對于幫助受災(zāi)社區(qū)恢復(fù)生機至關(guān)重要。但是，慷慨的行為也會令行善者自身受益。

“Research suggests that these community social connections are as important for resilience to disaster is as physical material like disaster kits or medical supplies,” explained Ichiro Kawachi, a professor of social epidemiology at Harvard’s School of Public Health. “Voluntarism is good for the health of people who receive social support, but also good for the health of people who offer their help.”

“研究表明，在社區(qū)抗災(zāi)過程中，社會維系和急救包以及醫(yī)療用品等物質(zhì)資源發(fā)揮著同樣重要的作用，”哈佛公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院(Harvard’s School of Public Health)社會流行病學(xué)教授河內(nèi)一郎(Ichiro Kawachi)解釋道。“志愿服務(wù)能幫助獲得社會支持的人恢復(fù)健康，也對提供幫助者的健康有益。”

The day after Cristina Topham evacuated her home as a result of the fires in Sonoma, Calif., she and her boyfriend immediately looked for ways to donate and help.

由于加利福尼亞州索諾馬的大火，克里斯蒂娜·托潘(Cristina Topham)被迫離家。第二天，她和男友立刻開始尋找捐款和幫助他人的途徑。

“I just felt like I had to do something. I love my town and my community, and the reach of the destruction was astonishing from the very beginning,” she said.

“我只是覺得自己必須做點什么。我愛我的城市和社區(qū)，而且破壞的范圍從一開始就那么驚人，”她說。

Why is the first instinct for many to volunteer and donate after a natural disaster? One reason is that as humans we’ve evolved to survive in groups, not alone. Rallying together makes us feel less alone in the experience, explained the sociologist Christine Carter, a fellow at the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

為什么自然災(zāi)害過后，志愿服務(wù)和捐贈成了許多人的第一本能?其中一個原因是，隨著人類的發(fā)展，我們已經(jīng)演化為群體動物，而不是單獨生存。加州大學(xué)伯克利分校至善科學(xué)中心(Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley)研究員、社會學(xué)家克里斯汀·卡特(Christine Carter)解釋說，團結(jié)在一起會讓我們在災(zāi)難中感覺不那么孤單。

“When our survival is threatened, we are going to reach out and strengthen our connections with people around us. We show generosity. We show compassion. We show gratitude. These are all emotions that function to connect us with each other,” Dr. Carter said.

“當生存受到威脅時，我們會伸出援手，加強我們同周圍其他人的聯(lián)系。我們表現(xiàn)出慷慨。我們表現(xiàn)出同情心。我們表現(xiàn)出感激之情。這些都是能讓我們彼此之間產(chǎn)生聯(lián)系的情感，”卡特說。

Scientific evidence supports the idea that acts of generosity can be beneficial when we volunteer and give back regularly — and not just after a natural disaster. Volunteering is linked to health benefits like lower blood pressure and decreased mortality rates.

科學(xué)證據(jù)表明，不僅在自然災(zāi)害過后，平時也定期提供志愿服務(wù)、回饋他人的慷慨行為是有益的。志愿服務(wù)同降低血壓和降低死亡率等健康益處存在相關(guān)性。

Dr. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist and founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has been studying the effects of positive emotions, such as compassion and kindness, on the brain since the 1990s. He said the brain behaves differently during an act of generosity than it does during a hedonistic activity.

自1990年代以來，位于麥迪遜的威斯康星大學(xué)健康心理中心(Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin)的創(chuàng)始人、神經(jīng)科學(xué)家理查德·戴維森(Richard Davidson)博士一直在研究同情和善意等積極情緒對大腦的影響。他表示，在進行慷慨的活動時，大腦的表現(xiàn)與進行享樂活動時是不一樣的。

“When we do things for ourselves, those experiences of positive emotions are more fleeting. They are dependent on external circumstances,” he said. “When we engage in acts of generosity, those experiences of positive emotion may be more enduring and outlast the specific episode in which we are engaged.”

“當我們?yōu)樽约鹤鍪虑闀r，積極情感的體驗較為短暫，因為它們依賴于外部環(huán)境，”他說。“而當我們從事慷慨行為時，積極情感的體驗?zāi)軌蛞恢毖永m(xù)下去，可能比參與的具體事件更為持久。”

Helping others also gives us a sense of purpose. Dr. Linda Fried co-founded Experience Corps, a program that engages retirees as literacy tutors, after she discovered a strong association between a sense of purpose and well-being throughout life. Older adults who volunteered to help children with reading and writing tended to experience less memory loss and maintain greater physical mobility, one study suggested.

幫助他人也帶給我們一種目的感。琳達·弗賴德(Linda Fried)博士發(fā)現(xiàn)，目標感和人生幸福之間存在強烈的聯(lián)系，于是她與他人合作，創(chuàng)建了“體驗團”(Experience Corps)，招募退休人員教人識字。一項研究表明，志愿幫助孩子閱讀和寫作有助于老年人緩解健忘，并且更好地保持身體靈活。

Giving back is a fundamental teaching of many religions. Jesus had the Golden Rule. Buddha said in order to brighten one’s own path, one must light the path of others.

回饋是許多宗教的基本教義。耶穌有黃金法則。佛陀則說，為了看清自己腳下的道路，就必須照亮他人的道路。

During a trip to India in 2016, I experienced firsthand how the benefits of doing good are well established in Indian society. I paid a visit to a Vedic astrologer because I was anxious about an uncertain future, my own personal crisis, and received a list of prescriptions to help others to get through it. The first task was to buy a black-and-white checkered blanket, then visit a local leper colony and donate it to the first person I saw. My next task was to buy a six-pound bag of lentils, circle it around my head, chant a Sanskrit mantra and give it to a homeless person.

2016年在印度旅行期間，我親身體驗了善行的益處植根于印度社會之中。因為對不確定的未來以及我個人的危機感到焦慮，我拜訪了一位吠陀占星學(xué)家，從他那里收到了一份處方，要我通過幫助他人來解決自己的焦慮。第一個任務(wù)是購買一張黑白格子的毯子，然后拜訪一個當?shù)氐穆轱L(fēng)病人聚集地，并且將它捐給我看到的第一個人。下一個任務(wù)是購買一袋6磅的小扁豆，把它頂在頭上，一邊誦讀一段梵文真言，一邊把豆子布施給無家可歸的人。

Certainly, many Westerners would roll their eyes at these unconventional “prescriptions,” but they were familiar to my Indian friends, who believe they hold real power. 這種非常規(guī)的“處方”，肯定會讓許多西方人翻白眼，但是對于我們的印度朋友們來說，這些是非常熟悉的，他們認為這種行為會帶來真正的力量。

Later, to better understand the significance of the rituals, I reached out to Dr. Deepak Chopra, author of “You Are the Universe.” He said the philosophical underpinnings in India come from the Vedas and Buddhist traditions, where “all human suffering is a result of the hallucination of the separate self.”

后來，為了更好地了解這些儀式的意義，我聯(lián)系了《你是宇宙》(You Are the Universe)一書的作者迪帕克·喬普拉(Deepak Chopra)博士。他說，印度的哲學(xué)基礎(chǔ)來自《吠陀》和佛教傳統(tǒng)，主張“一切人類痛苦都是獨立個體幻覺的產(chǎn)物”。

Dr. Chopra explained: “The moment you identify yourself as separate from other beings, or other people, or separate from life in general then you will suffer. And it all begins with initial anxiety because when you’re disconnected from people and life, you feel fear, and that creates the beginning of suffering.”

喬普拉解釋說：“一旦你將‘自我’這個身份同其他生命或其他人分離開來，將它從普遍的生活中割裂出去，你就會開始感到痛苦。一切都始于最初的焦慮，因為當你同他人和生活分離時，你會感到恐懼，這就造成了痛苦的開始。”

Would Western doctors ever prescribe acts of generosity? Dr. John Rowe, a professor of health policy and aging at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, doesn’t rule it out.

西方醫(yī)生是否會把慷慨行為作為自己的處方呢?哥倫比亞大學(xué)梅爾曼公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院(Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health)的健康策略與衰老研究教授約翰·羅(John Rowe)博士不排除這種做法。

“We have sufficient scientific information to justify a very significant public health initiative,” he said. “If there were a retiree in my office I would ask them, ‘Do you smoke? Do you exercise? What is your diet like?’ I should also be asking them if they volunteer.”

“我們有充分的科學(xué)信息證明志愿服務(wù)是一項非常重要的公共健康倡議，”他說。“如果有退休人士來我的辦公室咨詢，我會問他們，‘你吸煙嗎?你運動嗎?你的飲食怎么樣?’我還應(yīng)該問問他們是否從事志愿服務(wù)。”