01 Jul Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine for Yourself
In giving we receive.
The best way to become happier is to make others happier.
Real happiness isn’t about being selfish, but about giving …
via the Next Big Idea Club by Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli
Stephen Trzeciak is an intensivist—a physician who specializes in intensive care medicine—with 20 years of experience working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Cooper University Health Care. He is also a Professor of Medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. His colleague and co-author, Anthony Mazzarelli is an emergency physician, the co-president and CEO of Cooper University Health Care, and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.
Below, Stephen and Anthony share 5 key insights from their new book, Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine for Yourself. Listen to the audio version—read by Stephen—in the Next Big Idea App.

1. The key to resilience is relationships.
Research shows that over the last 50 years, we as a society have become more and more self-focused. In fact, recent research using data to measure specific characteristics of national culture has shown that the most individualistic and self-focused nation in the world, by far, is the United States. Our diagnosis: me culture. We are suffering from me-ism. Condition: critical.
Me culture is making us sick. At a time when Americans are chronically lonely and fewer than ever say that they have meaningful conversations with their neighbors, rates of depression and deaths of despair (deaths attributable to addiction or suicide) are at an all-time high. Life expectancy in the US is falling.
You’ve heard about the importance of me time, but research shows that our self-care pursuits are becoming increasingly isolating: Putting on our headphones and tuning out, turning on our meditation app, or taking a walk through nature alone. There is nothing inherently wrong with these things, but research shows that self-care has become less relational. Instead of looking outward, we’re mostly looking inward, in contrast to decades past when we were more likely to seek solace in family and friends.
Abundant research, including the famous Harvard Grant Study, shows that meaningful human connection and the relationships that flow from that is protective. We’ve found that the key to resilience is relationships and to reap all the benefits of those bonds, is helping others. We call this a live-to-give mindset. Focusing on others is a potent antidote to the weariness that many of us feel in modern times. Getting outside of the swirl of self-concern that may dominate your mental chatter is, ironically, one of the best things you can do for yourself…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE