Carers are often portrayed as being stressed out and exhausted. But, while you might think that caring for a sick or elderly person imposes a burden that must be detrimental to health, this is not necessarily so. Michael Rosato and colleagues at the Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University, Belfast, carried out an investigation into the health of carers. The study found that people providing informal caring recorded lower mortality levels than those not providing caring.  This was true for both men and women, of whatever age, and even if they had reported an illness themselves.

‘Caring itself has a positive effect on people’s health,’ says Rosato. ‘It gives people a sense of importance. They are grounded in the world through a sense of responsibility.’ These findings contribute to the general debate on growing old in today’s society. There is a limit to what the state can provide, so informal caring is going to become increasingly important. ‘Caring has typically been characterized as negative – but these findings show it can also have positive aspects,’ Rosato concludes.

Source

Susan Aldridge ‘Medication Safety’ Picture of Health 2009 Health Research Board page 19 
O’Reilly D et al Is caring associated with an increased risk of mortality? Social Science and Medicine 2008; 67:1282-90