Give More This Holiday, Improve Your Health
As the saying goes, “It’s better to give than receive.” And science is banking on this statement. So this holiday season, before you get, think about giving. Your mind, body and soul will receive the benefits immediately and over the long term. Here’s why:
Giving Helps You Feel Good
A
Gallup survey on volunteering in the USA found that 52% of volunteers do it because they like doing something useful and helping others. Another 38% said they enjoy doing volunteer work and feeling good about themselves.
Giving Promotes Social Connection
Giving to others promotes a sense of trust and cooperation that strengthens our ties to others, reports
UC Berkley. Research has shown that having positive social interactions is central to good mental and physical health. Additionally, when we give to others, we feel closer to them and they intern feel closer to us.
Giving Improves Your Health
In a
Canadian study 85% of Ontario volunteers rated their health as “good,” compared to 79% of non-volunteers. Only 2% of volunteers reported “poor” health, one-third the amount of non-volunteers who reported the same health status.
Giving Helps You Gain New Skills
Volunteering opens up opportunities for you to gain new experiences and build new skill sets that may not have come along in your everyday life. Volunteer experiences are also great to put on your resume, which could result in new career opportunities in the future.
Giving Makes You Happier
Researchers at the
Harvard Business School surveyed 632 Americans of various income levels. Regardless of income level, people who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not. The study suggests that it’s now how much money you make, but it is actually the little changes in how you spend it that makes the difference.
Giving Improves Your Self Esteem
When you are kinder to others, you tend to treat and think of yourself in a kinder way too, reports
The Positivity Blog. And the way you treat other people is how they tend to treat you in the long run.
Giving Increases Receiving
Several studies 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.
Giving Inspires More Giving
When we give, we don’t only help the immediate recipient of our gift, we start a ripple effect of giving throughout our community and connections. A study reported in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Science showed that when one gives generously, it inspires observes to behave generously later toward different people.
So, what science has shown us is that giving is a win-win. And what better time to increase your giving than during the holidays? Are you increasing your giving this season?
Tell us in the comments how you are giving back this holiday season to expand the heart connection of the world!