{"id":2353,"date":"2014-10-01T10:57:26","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T02:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/wp\/2024\/10\/29\/5-ways-giving-is-good-for-you\/"},"modified":"2014-10-01T10:57:26","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T02:57:26","slug":"5-ways-giving-is-good-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klinikong.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/01\/5-ways-giving-is-good-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways Giving is Good for You"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jason Marsh<\/strong> and Jill Suttie<\/strong><\/p>\n

This essay originally appeared on<\/em> Greater Good<\/span><\/span><\/a>, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Giving makes us feel happy.<\/strong> A 2008 study<\/span><\/span><\/a> by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton and colleagues found that giving money to someone else lifted participants\u2019 happiness more that spending it on themselves (despite participants\u2019 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<\/span><\/span><\/a> when she asked people to perform five acts of kindness each week for six weeks.<\/p>\n

These good feelings are reflected in our biology. In a 2006 study<\/span><\/span><\/a>, 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 \u201cwarm glow\u201d effect. Scientists also believe that altruistic behavior releases endorphins in the brain, producing the positive feeling known as the \u201chelper\u2019s high.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Giving is good for our health.<\/strong> 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<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n

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, now a researcher at Stony Brook University, saw similar results in a 2003 study<\/span><\/span><\/a> 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\u2019t. Interestingly, receiving help wasn\u2019t linked to a reduced death risk.<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/a> 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\u2019t, suggesting a direct physiological benefit to those who give of themselves.<\/p>\n

3. Giving promotes cooperation and social connection.<\/strong> When you give, you\u2019re more likely to get back: Several studies<\/span><\/span><\/a>, 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\u2014sometimes by the person you gave to, sometimes by someone else.<\/p>\n

These exchanges promote a sense of trust and cooperation that strengthens our ties to others\u2014and 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<\/em>, \u201cThe more extensive the reciprocal altruism born of social connection . . . the greater the advance toward health, wealth, and happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, when we give to others, we don\u2019t only make them feel closer to us; we also feel closer to them. \u201cBeing kind and generous leads you to perceive others more positively and more charitably,\u201d writes Lyubomirsky in her book The How of Happiness<\/em>, and this \u201cfosters a heightened sense of interdependence and cooperation in your social community.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Giving evokes gratitude.<\/strong> Whether you\u2019re on the giving or receiving end of a gift, that gift can elicit feelings of gratitude\u2014it can be a way of expressing gratitude or instilling gratitude in the recipient. And research has found that gratitude is integral to happiness, health, and social bonds.<\/p>\n

Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, pioneers in the scientific study of gratitude, have found that teaching college students to \u201ccount their blessings<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u201d and cultivate gratitude caused them to exercise more, be more optimistic, and feel better about their lives overall. A recent study<\/span><\/span><\/a> led by Nathaniel Lambert at Florida State University found that expressing gratitude to a close friend or romantic partner strengthens our sense of connection to that person.<\/p>\n

Barbara Fredrickson, a leading happiness researcher, suggests that cultivating gratitude in everyday life is one of the keys to increasing personal happiness. \u201cWhen you express your gratitude in words or actions, you not only boost your own positivity but [other people\u2019s] as well,\u201d she writes in her book Positivity<\/em>. \u201cAnd in the process you reinforce their kindness and strengthen your bond to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Giving is contagious.<\/strong> When we give, we don\u2019t only help the immediate recipient of our gift. We also spur a ripple effect of generosity through our community.<\/p>\n

A study<\/span><\/span><\/a> by James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, and Nicholas Christakis of Harvard, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science<\/em>, shows that when one person behaves generously, it inspires observers to behave generously later, toward different people. In fact, the researchers found that altruism could spread by three degrees\u2014from person to person to person to person. \u201cAs a result,\u201d they write, \u201ceach person in a network can influence dozens or even hundreds of people, some of whom he or she does not know and has not met.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving has also been linked to the release of oxytocin, a hormone (also released during sex and breast feeding) that induces feelings of warmth, euphoria, and connection to others. In laboratory studies, Paul Zak, the director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, has found that a dose of oxytocin will cause people to give more generously and to feel more empathy towards others, with \u201csymptoms\u201d lasting up to two hours. And those people on an \u201coxytocin high\u201d can potentially jumpstart a \u201cvirtuous circle, where one person\u2019s generous behavior triggers another\u2019s,\u201d says Zak.<\/p>\n

So whether you buy gifts, volunteer your time, or donate money to charity, your giving may help you build stronger social connections and even jumpstart a cascade of generosity through your community. And don\u2019t be surprised if you find yourself benefiting from a big dose of happiness in the process.<\/p>\n

Jason Marsh<\/strong> is editor-in-chief and director of programs at the Greater Good Science Center and the course producer for “The Science of Happinesss.” Jill Suttie, Psy.D.<\/strong>, is <\/em>Greater Good‘s book review editor and a frequent contributor to the magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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