The Healing Power of Doing Good [Paperback]

Allan Luks (Author), Peggy Payne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2001

Conventional wisdom has always held that when we help others, some of the good we do flows back to us. That satisfaction has always been thought to be largely emotionalfeeling good when you do good. Now important, widely discussed research shows that helping others regularly produces significant health benefits as wellin fact, it has effects similar to those many of us experience when we exercise.It is almost impossible to read this book without wanting to do good. Both for those who are already volunteering and for those who are considering it, this valuable personal guide tells you how to choose an activity thats right for you, how to maximize the health benefits, and how to overcome the main obstacle to getting started: lack of time.The Healing Power of Doing Good reaffirms and explains that when we care for others we care for ourselves. It is an important book for those suffering from chronic health problems as well as the health conscious, anyone interested in how our mind affects our body, and people in the helping professions. And it reminds us that never has there been such a need for caring as there is today.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It is widely accepted as fact that helping others--specifically strangers, not just family and friends--makes one feel good. Luks's purpose is to show exactly how one's physical health, not just emotional well-being, is improved through helping others. He writes about "helper's high," something akin to the phenomenon which runners experience from the release of endorphins. Actual accounts of how individuals have been healed through helping run throughout the book. Can holding abandoned babies really cure a backache? It seems so! Such caring might reduce the growing violence of our society, Luks proposes. The book ends with a list of and information about health organizations that encourage volunteers. Highly recommended.
- John Moryl, Yeshiva Univ. Lib., New York
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Allan Luks, an internationally recognized health and social services leader, led the first research which linked the emotional and physical health benefits gained by those who regularly help others. He is also the author of Will America Sober Up?, You Are What You Drink, and the editor of Having Been There. He has initiated health promotion laws that have become national models and written extensively for newspapers and magazines.Peggy Payne is a writer whose articles appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Science Digest, Family Circle, McCalls, and many others. The author of a novel, Revelations, she lives in Chatham County, North Carolina.

Product Details

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (April 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595175910
• ISBN-13: 978-0595175918
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #636,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book gets you thinking about the benefits of helping others May 6, 2012

By Phil Shapiro

Format:Paperback

Length: 6:55 Mins

I happened upon a mention of this book on a blog post somewhere and tracked down a copy of the book in one of the local public libraries. The primary author, Allan Luks, seems well qualified to write a book of this sort. The supporting author, Peggy Payne, helped make the book a fun and engaging read. The book has some useful appendices giving information on how you can get involved in volunteering in your community via various organizations. I found this book well worth my time. This book points in the direction of more people in the world helping each other, which is always a good thing.

I'm going to be recommending this book to colleagues on the Computer Refurbishers email list run by TechSoup Global. (Search Google to locate this Googlegroups email list, if you're interested. This list is free for anyone interested in computer refurbishing to join.)

For folks in the DC-area, I found this book at the Martin Luther King Memorial Library, within the DC Public Libraries. You can request the DC Public Libraries to transfer any book to a branch that is close to you. Do that yourself with your library card, thereby freeing up a librarian to help the public in other ways.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Improve health and live longer through volunteering February 16, 1998

By [e-mail]

Format:Hardcover

Medical researchers provide evidence that volunteering helps the body produce it natural healers, endorphens, enhancing health and increasing longevity. I have used information in this book successfully when encouraging individuals to become more involved in their communities.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will change your life June 15, 2006

By Frank

Format:Paperback

I'm amazed at how often helping others is overlooked in our society as a way of healing. After reading this book, I decided to put Allan's claims to the test and discovered that he was right. I began tutoring ESL to a newcomer for only 2 hours a week and within a couple of weeks I noticed a change in my sense of well being. Like he says in the book, I noticed that I would leave those tutoring sessions on a kind of high. Afterwards I felt calmer and more focussed. It truly is miraculous the way it works.