At a time when we are all experiencing an extraordinary level of stress, science offers a simple and effective way to bolster our own emotional health. To help yourself, start by helping others.

Our bodies and minds benefit in a variety of ways when we help others. Some research has focused on the “helper’s high”. Studies show that volunteering, donating money, or even just thinking about donating money can release feel-good brain chemicals and activate the part of the brain stimulated by the pleasure of food. Studies of volunteers show that do-gooders had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol on days they did volunteer work.

In fact, the act of giving advice has been shown to be more beneficial than receiving it. In a series of studies of 2,274 people, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago found that after middle school students mentored younger students about studying, they ended up spending more time on their own homework. Overweight people who counselled others on weight loss were more motivated to lose weight themselves.

Feeling responsible for other people also can help us cope with whatever challenges life brings. Emily A. Greenfield, an associate professor of social work at Rutgers University, studied a concept called ”felt obligation“, which is measured by asking people questions such as how obligated they would feel to give money to a friend in need, even if it meant putting themselves in a bind. Dr Greenfield analysed data collected from 849 participants in an ongoing study of health and well-being that asked about felt obligation as well as health-related declines they experienced over time, such as problems carrying groceries or walking a block.

As it turned out, the people who had higher levels of felt obligation—meaning they were the type of people to sacrifice for others—coped better with their own life challenges.

She noted that caring for others helps us to regulate our own emotions and gain a sense of control. “When we remind a friend that social distancing measures are temporary, and this too shall pass, we are also, in effect, reminding ourselves and serving to regulate our own emotions,” she said.

Warming waters, moving fish: how climate change is reshaping Iceland

ISAFJORDUR, Iceland—Before it became a “Game of Thrones” location, and before hordes of tourists descended upon this small island nation, there were the fish.

Gisli Palsson, a professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland, said “    5    ” The money Iceland earned from commercial fishing helped the island, which is about the size of Kentucky, become independent from Denmark in 1944.

    6    Ocean temperatures around Iceland have increased between 1.8 and 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 20 years. For the past two seasons, Icelanders have not been able to harvest capelin, a type of smelt, as their numbers plummeted. The warmer waters mean that as some fish leave, causing financial disruption, other fish species arrive, triggering geopolitical conflicts.

    7    Blue whiting is increasingly moving farther north and west into the waters near Greenland. And cod, which this year brought in record profits of $l billion, feed on capelin. But Mr Birgisson, a fishing captain, said the best place to fish for cod was where warmer ocean temperatures meet colder ocean temperatures, and that is increasingly moving north in keeping with global patterns.

While fishery management problems have long existed, climate change is worsening conflicts.     8    Not only does this have huge consequences for the people living in those regions, it also has global implications, because the lack of a critical food source may cause people to move. Fishing is “dangerous work—I don’t want my kids to be at sea,” said Saethor Atli Gislason, standing on his fishing boat in Bolungarvik, a town roughly 10 miles north of Isafjordur.