Holiday shopping can be terrifying, yes. But research suggests it’s
worth it: New studies attest to the benefits of giving—not just for the
recipients but for the givers’ health and happiness, and for the strength of
entire communities.
Of course,
you don’t have to shop to reap the benefits of giving. Research suggests the
same benefits come from donating to charities or volunteering your time, like
at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter. Here are some of the ways that giving
is good for you and your community.
1. Giving makes us
feel happy. A 2008 study by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton
and colleagues found that giving money to someone else lifted participants’
happiness more that spending it on themselves (despite participants’ prediction
that spending on themselves would make them happier). Happiness expert Sonja
Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California,
Riverside, saw similar results when she asked people to perform five acts of
kindness each week for six weeks.
These good feelings are reflected in
our biology. In a 2006 study, Jorge Moll and colleagues at the National
Institutes of Health found that when people give to charities, it activates
regions of the brain associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust,
creating a “warm glow” effect. Scientists also believe that altruistic behavior
releases endorphins in the brain, producing the positive feeling known as the
“helper’s high.”
2. Giving is good for our health. A wide range of
research has linked different forms of generosity to better health, even among
the sick and elderly. In his book Why Good Things Happen to Good People, Stephen Post, a
professor of preventative medicine at Stony Brook University, reports that
giving to others has been shown to increase health benefits in people with
chronic illness, including HIV and multiple sclerosis.
A 1999 study led by Doug Oman of the
University of California, Berkeley, found that elderly people who volunteered
for two or more organizations were 44 percent less likely to die over a
five-year period than were non-volunteers, even after controlling for their
age, exercise habits, general health, and negative health habits like smoking.
Stephanie Brown of the University of Michigan saw similar results in a 2003
study on elderly couples. She and her colleagues found that those individuals
who provided practical help to friends, relatives, or neighbors, or gave
emotional support to their spouses, had a lower risk of dying over a five-year
period than those who didn’t. Interestingly, receiving help wasn’t linked to a
reduced death risk.
Researchers
suggest that one reason giving may improve physical health and longevity is
that it helps decrease stress, which is associated with a variety of health
problems. In a 2006 study by Rachel Piferi of Johns Hopkins University and
Kathleen Lawler of the University of Tennessee, people who provided social
support to others had lower blood pressure than participants who didn’t,
suggesting a direct physiological benefit to those who give of themselves.
3. Giving promotes cooperation and
social connection. When you give, you’re more likely to get back:
Several studies, including work by sociologists Brent Simpson and Robb Willer,
have suggested that when you give to others, your generosity is likely to be
rewarded by others down the line—sometimes by the person you gave to, sometimes
by someone else.
These exchanges promote a sense of
trust and cooperation that strengthens our ties to others—and research has
shown that having positive social interactions is central to good mental and
physical health. As researcher John Cacioppo writes in his book
Loneliness: Human Nature and the
Need for Social Connection, “The more extensive the reciprocal altruism
born of social connection . . . the greater the advance toward health, wealth,
and happiness.”
What’s more, when we give to others,
we don’t only make them feel closer to us; we also feel closer to them. “Being
kind and generous leads you to perceive others more positively and more
charitably,” writes Lyubomirsky in her book The How of Happiness, and this “fosters a heightened sense of
interdependence and cooperation in your social community.”
4. Activate the Reward Center in
Your Brain
A
study by a University of Oregon
professor and his colleagues demonstrates that charitable contributions create
a response in the brain that mimics one activated by drugs and other stimuli.
This response elicits a surge of dopamine and endorphins that are experienced as
“hedonic” and rewarding. Charitable giving can feel pleasurable in the deepest
parts of your physiology – more so than a night on the town or a new outfit.
5.
Improve Life Satisfaction
A
German study provides ample evidence
that people who give more to others – in both time and resources – experience
greater satisfaction in life than people who do not. In fact, communities of
people with high levels of giving tend to demonstrate greater satisfaction
within the community than groups of people who do not give generously.
Essentially, you’re going to be happier in your community if it’s made up of
folks who give to one another.
6.
Feel Happier
While life satisfaction is one thing, general happiness is another. In a
study by professors at
the University of Missouri – Columbia and the University of California –
Riverside, people who gave to others tend to score much higher on feelings of
joy and contentment than individuals who did not give to others.
7.
Protect Your Local Community
National safety net programs, such as
Food Stamps and disability benefits,
can be of great benefit to Americans, but giving to community organizations can
provide important local safety nets that guarantee vital assistance during
crises and emergencies as well. Community organizations tend to respond faster
and more appropriately to the needs of local communities than larger
organizations do, and these agencies obtain most of their funding from private
donations. Local giving, therefore, provides support for the programs that
enhance community well-being.
How about you? Interested for donation? :)
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