Giving Leads to Happier, Healthier Life

People often talk about the 'warm fuzzy feeling' that they get from philanthropy or from just doing the right thing, but now there's scientific evidence to prove it. Dr. Stephen Post of Case Western Reserve University recently spoke at an Akron Roundtable event, and below is an article from the 11/16/07 Akron Beacon Journal about his presentation.

Do good, feel better, expert says
Bioethicist shares views at Akron Roundtable
By Carol Biliczky Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Nov 16, 2007

Public health is more than washing your hands and avoiding lead paint, a Case Western Reserve University bioethicist told the Akron Roundtable on Thursday.

Stephen Post quoted from his newest book, Why Good Things Happen to Good People, on how doing good benefits both the doer and those who are helped.

''When we engage in compassionate behavior, when we show kindness to others, science tells us that we will be happier, shielded from stress-related diseases and will live longer,'' he said in a news conference before his talk. ''It's good to be good. It benefits those who give.''

Post is president of the not-for-profit Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, founded at the private Cleveland university in 2001 with $4 million in seed money from the John Templeton Foundation near Philadelphia.

The institute has awarded millions of dollars of research grants to scientists from many disciplines nationwide who are studying the altruistic, unselfish nature of love.

That means everything from the bravery of emergency rescuers to the neurobiology of parental love to organ donation and the ways altruistic behavior affects health.

The work flips the coin, from the negative, disease-based study of health to the attitudes and behaviors that people can adopt to make themselves happier and healthier while living longer.

''Virtue is its own reward,'' Post told about 200 Roundtable guests, quoting the Greek philosopher Plato and adding a touch of his own. ''And science says it's so.''

At the Roundtable, Post cited his mother as a powerful influence in his life.

When he was bored as a child, she encouraged him to do something for someone else. That led to the young Post raking a neighbor's leaves or helping to pull a tarp over a boat.

By the time he came to Case Western Reserve in 1998 with triple appointments in religion, philosophy and ethics, he was focusing on the needs of Alzheimer's patients and their families, he wrote in his book.

That changed when philanthropist Sir John Templeton offered to fund research on the emerging field of love and to solidify the evidence of the benefits of something so simple as writing a check to a charity to provide the ''helper's high.''

''Human needs are complicated and you will find no shortage of opportunities to give,'' Post wrote in his book, which cites study after study that builds his case for happiness.

Post's Why Good Things Happen to Good People was published in May with science writer Jill Neimark. He also was editor-in-chief for the five-volume Encyclopedia of Bioethics and has written more than 130 scholarly papers.

Stories about his work have appeared in 3,000 newspapers, he said, and he has been featured on such television shows as 20/20 and Hour of Power.

Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.

Here's a link to a recent story about Dr. Post in The Christian Science Monitor.