Stress is a killer. If you think that’s just a metaphor, you’re wrong. Stress is related to a number of mental health conditions, especially anxiety and depression. But what’s more surprising is that stress leads to negative effects on the body itself—for example, by weakening the immune system or leading to heart disease.
A bit of stress is probably a good thing, as it mobilizes people to act in ways that are appropriate to the demands of the environment (i.e., running away in the face of danger). But chronic stress, especially in cases where it’s not appropriate, is seriously detrimental to mental and physical health.
Researchers at UC Berkeley point to the range of illnesses and conditions that can result from a prolonged period of stress: “untreated chronic stress can result in serious health conditions including anxiety, insomnia, muscle pain, high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, as well as contributing to the development of major illnesses, such as heart disease, depression and obesity.”
Since we all experience stress at some point in our life, with some of us experiencing chronic stress, we all want to know what we can do to reduce it, potentially removing it from our lives altogether. One obvious thing that helps is dealing with environmental triggers of stress, such as a bad marriage, job dissatisfaction, etc. We can also take medication, exercise regularly, and engage in one or another kind of meditation.
One common behavior people display during stressful experiences is to look for social support and intimacy. Whether it is emotional support from your spouse, or intimate discussions with friends, social support is known to reduce stress through various psychological as well as physiological mechanisms.
But there may be another kind of social support that can reduce the negative effects of stress in our lives. Instead of being on the receiving end of social support, we can actually be the ones providing support. It doesn’t have to be the kind of full-fledged emotional support we look for when we’re stressed. It can be as simple as opening the door for someone, giving someone directions, being charitable, etc.
It looks like these prosocial behaviors can also reduce stress levels. In a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale University, a group of stressed subjects were tested to see if prosocial behavior has an impact on stress levels. The participants kept a diary in which they recorded their daily levels of stress, and recounted the episodes in which they engaged in prosocial behavior. Finally, they also rated their overall mental health.
Those people who reported engaging in more prosocial behavior were actually less stressed compared to the less prosocial participants. Reduced stress was measured through both the degree of positive as well as negative emotions. The more prosocial participants had more positive emotions compared to the less prosocial, though the more prosocial people did not necessarily have less negative emotions.
On an individual level, people who displayed more prosocial behavior on a given day also had higher positive emotions and less negative emotions compared to less prosocial days. Moreover, more prosocial days were also associated with better ratings of overall mental health.
These results are intriguing, because they show that you can reduce stress not just by being on the receiving end of social support, but also by acting prosocially. At the least, you can increase your positive emotions to an extent, and possibly decrease negative emotions as well. So the next time you’re stressed, you might want to hold the door open for a stranger or two.
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