While our hearts go out to the victims of Harvey, we’ve heard story after story about the people who reached out to help those in need.
Alison Regan and her family, who found themselves on dry ground in a Houston suburb, know they needed to help and took out their inflatable kayak and found 15 elderly couples who were surrounded by water in their homes. One of the people has a severe heart condition and they wound up steering the kayak right into his home to get him on board!
While its amazing to see how many people reached out to help, resilience research suggests that it was not all about doing good for others, but also doing good for themselves.
We know that in times of stress, our bodies emit all kinds of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. One of the other stress hormones that is released in times of crises is oxytocin. Known as the “cuddle hormone” because it promotes affiliation, oxytocin helps us recognize that when times are tough we need to reach out to others and help as well as seek support.
The cool thing about this resilience hormone is that it helps us be healthier by serving as a natural anti-inflammatory that keeps our blood vessels and entire cardiac system relaxed.
Taking some time today to help the people of Houston with a donation to the Houston Food Bank, the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund which gives 100% of raised money directly to victims of the Hurricane or even Houston Texan football player JJ Watts‘ crowd funding campaign that started off with a goal of $100,000 and now is targeting $20 million will go a long way to helping them and you to recover from this tragedy faster and healthier.
© Richard Citrin, All rights reserved, 2017
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