Chasing Life Could Caring for Others Change Your Brain for the Better?
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Mar 6, 2026 Elissa Strauss, writer and author of When You Care, researches caregiving and its psychological effects. She discusses how caregiving can reshape identity and the brain. They explore evolutionary roots of care, research linking care to better health, and practical ways to protect self while caring. The conversation reframes care from burden to meaningful practice and urges broader cultural change.
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Care Shapes Identity And Other Roles
- Care transforms identities rather than only consuming them.
- Elissa Strauss describes parenting and caregiving as a single "care self" that feeds writing, friendships, and other roles, not a separate silo.
Darwin Saw Care As Basis Of Human Cooperation
- Darwin linked parental instincts to human cooperation and mourning to social bonding.
- Strauss recounts Darwin's grief over his daughter and how it led him to see sympathy and caregiving as evolutionary drivers of cooperation.
Caregiving Can Improve Physical And Cognitive Health
- Caregiving can produce measurable health benefits despite common assumptions about burden.
- Strauss cites studies showing active high‑intensity caregivers had better cognition, lower inflammation, and longer longevity after controlling for confounders.
