Good social bonds are essential for our health and the body's natural healing processes.
The ability to engage in fulfilling relationships is of paramount importance for our well-being. Clean air, adequate exercise, avoidance of toxins such as nicotine, alcohol, sugar, and preservatives, as well as "doing good for a specific other person," significantly contribute to our health by acting as pain relievers and anti-inflammatory agents.
Whenever the body experiences an infection, flu, injury, accident, or other physical damage, it responds with an inflammatory program that promotes healing. However, there are also insidious inflammations that go almost unnoticed and lead to the calcification of the inner walls of blood vessels. Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks or strokes, often result from these hidden inflammations. It has also been shown that tumors can form in organs where chronic inflammations persist over months. Neurobiologist Joachim Bauer refers to these as risk genes in his book "The Empathic Gene."
Factors Promoting Dangerous Risk Genes
Scientific evidence indicates that a polluted environment, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and toxins such as nicotine, alcohol, drugs, and sugar, along with a psychologically selfish attitude, increase the risk of these hidden inflammatory processes in the body. These factors contribute to the gradual calcification of blood vessel walls, thereby promoting cardiovascular diseases and tumor formation.
In addition to well-known factors like a clean environment, good nutrition, and exercise, maintaining good social relationships is also crucial for health.
The Benefits of Acts of Kindness
Studies show that individuals who perform a daily act of kindness for a neighbor, colleague, or another specific person experience a decrease in the activity of dangerous risk genes after four weeks. Conversely, the activity of these risk genes does not decrease in individuals who focus on doing good for the community or themselves. Another study observed around 13,000 retired individuals over four years. Those who volunteered for at least two hours a week were compared to those who did not. The group engaged in volunteering suffered less from depression, had fewer physical illnesses, and experienced a 40% reduction in mortality compared to those who did not volunteer.
Skills for Good Social Relationships
Good interpersonal relationships are inherently satisfying. The foundations of these functioning social relationships are trust, belonging, recognition, and efficacy. A balanced hormonal reward system in the brain is essential for all these skills. We need the proper nourishment of the four happiness hormones that activate our motivational system. However, these necessary nutrients are often lacking during chronic stress and after stressful events. The 4ME Complex replenishes these critical nutrient deficiencies, supporting the body's overall health.