The science of helping others in SEZ issue

Kolkata, Feb 22: A solution to the vexed issue of setting up of industries on farmlands in West Bengal may be reached if both the Left Front government and the Opposition Trinamool Congress abide by the principle--'self-help is not the best help unless one helps others.'

This is not a formula from a political pundit but a suggestion of a research conducted by a group of bio-behavioural experts here, which is likely to help soften the apparent rigid stands of the warring parties on the oft-debated subject and signal the overall development of the state balancing between agriculture and industry.

According to the survey conducted on about one thousand people across the city, the emotional and physical changes of feeling high and a sense of calmness and freedom from stress, an Aactivity requiring much less exertion--helping others.

The research says that in most cases the 'helper's calm' was linked to relief from stress-related disorders such as headache, voice loss and muscle pain.

The physical calmness one achieves after volunteering was also well-defined in the submission of a woman who recollected that she treated her acute headache by shopping for the poor children of her maidservant.

Experts observed that the increased strength results from the release of Endorphin, the body's natural pain-reducing chemical, which explains the 'helper's high and calm'.

''The Endorphin is our natural opiate that produces the good feeling arising during social contact with others,'' the experts maintained.

The research also speaks of subtle variations in the body-condition during physical exercise and helping someone.

It says that in the case of stress the heart pumps faster, breathing is fast, organ functions are interferred with and the body becomes more prone to pain.

''It is not physical pain but emotional stress that causes the adrenal glands to release the stress chemical 'cortiteroids' in the event of helping others '' the experts said.

Interestingly, this pleasure does not appear to arise from donating money, no matter how important the cause, nor from volunteering without personal touch. Being in contact is also crucial to the health-benefit of 'giving'. If forced to play, for whatever reasons, one may not benefit others.

The research points out that people who have long-term duties caring for elders, often report some kind of inertia and 'hassles' towards those 'helped'.

It is also vivid in the confession of a student who reported that when his volunteering activities interfere with his study they are no longer rewarding.

''Psychologists have argued for years on whether our 'helping-habits' owe more to the situation in which we find ourselves or to our individual characteristics,'' the study says.

The research shows that regardless of personality, one is more likely to come to the other's aid if the latter seems to display similar characteristics as the former.

Helping may be as dramatic as agreeing to donate a kidney or as mundane as letting an aged bill-depositor, standing behind in a queue, to come ahead. However, most of us do it frequently and begin early in life, the reasearch says.

''Seeing someone upset, a baby at the age of 10-14 months, may seek solace in the mother's lap. But in the second year, the child will begin comforting in a rudimentary way, such as by patting the head of someone who seems to be unhappy and by the time children are three or four, pro-social behaviour is common,'' It observes.

''It appears then that caring about others is as much a part of human nature as caring about ourselves, the impulse for which gets emphasised with time and training,'' the research concludes.

UNI