Happier, Healthier and Great for the Heart…
Why Giving Is Good For You
Last year my little girl could not wait until Christmas Day. It wasn’t because of the food or fun and nor was she jumping up and down in anticipation of the presents that Father Christmas would bring. No, my daughter was excited because she couldn’t wait to give all the gifts that she had bought; saving her pocket money for months, choosing them carefully from China Town’s very best under $5 range and wrapping them in secret in her bedroom. What my daughter discovered last Christmas was the gift of giving.
I still remember the warm pride I felt when the gifts I gave were so happily received (my mother even put on a convincing smile the Christmas I gave her a rather ugly carved tortoise with a foot missing purchased from the school fayre!) Yet it seems that we forget the joy of giving as we grow older and, even if it is remembered on ‘special days’, we seem not to replicate it in the routine of our everyday lives. However, we should take note of how we felt back in those days because the scientific and academic research tells us very clearly that giving is good for us. It makes us happier, it makes us healthier and it is great for our hearts.
Happier
Dr Elizabeth Dunn a social psychologist of the University of British Columbia and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School conducted a series of controlled studies to look at the secret happiness of giving. The results were consistently clear — people who give to others are quantifiably happier that those who do not. In one test employees in line for a bonus were surveyed before and after they received their pay out. It turns out that bonus-happiness is not determined by the number of dollars received but by how the recipient chooses to spend it. Happiness levels were linked to the percentage of the bonus given to others rather than the overall amount received. In another study, subjects were given $20 to spend as they chose. At the end of the day those who gave or spent at least $5 on others felt happier than those who spent the same money on themselves.
Dr Dunn explains “the effects of altruistic spending are probably akin to those of exercise”. By this she is alluding to the rush of endorphins that both exercise and giving cause to be released in the pleasure centres of your brain. A 2007 study tracking the neurological activity in areas of the brain linked to feeling good found that giving to charity activated these areas in much the same way as sex.
Spending money on yourself; buying a new dress, a shiny car or a chocolate bar also hits the pleasure button in your brain but whereas these pleasures create a temporary high (often followed by a consequent low much akin to a sugar crash in a child if you spend too much or too frequently) the research shows that the high of giving is much longer lasting.
Healthier
There is a great deal of research linking charitable generosity to good health. In 1999 one of the earliest studies concluded that even allowing for variables in age, health, diet, exercise habits and smoking, elderly people who volunteered were 44% less likely to die over a five year period than non-volunteers.
One reason why it is felt that charitable giving is good for overall health is that it decreases stress, which is associated with a range of physical health problems, and also strengthens the immune system. It has also been shown that those who give are likely to have lower blood pressure than those who don’t.
In terms of mental health the effects of giving to charity goes much further than simply feeling more or less happy but can also impact upon diagnosable mental health conditions. In their book “The Paradox of Generosity” sociologists Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson of the University of Notre Dame explore why people who donate 10% or more of their incomes to charity have significantly lower rates of depression than those who make no such charitable gesture.
Great for the Heart
Warren Buffett, the man behind the single largest act of charitable giving in history, (giving 85% of his $44 billion USD wealth to charity in 2006 and committing to having divested himself of all but 1% of it by the time he dies) explained his decision in his philanthropic pledge: “were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced”. Indeed Warren Buffet made it plain that having gifted his fortune he could not have felt better.
The reason is simple. As humans we need and we seek meaning and purpose in our lives. We need to feel that we matter in the world and that our being here is important to those around us. We humans have an inbuilt need to care for others too. By donating his fortune to strangers less fortunate than himself, Mr Buffett found community with the world around him.
Working for the common good, instead of only for oneself, is termed ‘pro-social’ behaviour and it makes us connected and content. Sharing with others inspires gratitude for what we have, it brings joy and it uplifts us. Quite simply giving to charity warms the heart.
Lucy-Ann Dale
