Not only does giving make you happier, it also makes you healthier.
After Mary’s husband, Richard, suddenly passed, she was drifting without a destination. She looked like she had aged a decade, her blood pressure was through the roof, and she was eating poorly. Over the next few months, I walked alongside her as she began sorting through her new life. When I asked what she enjoyed, her answer surprised me. “Baseball,” she replied. She loved watching every Texas Rangers game on television. Then I asked her if there was a cause she and Richard had cared deeply about while he was still living. She told me Richard had been a dedicated volunteer at the food bank at their church.
I suggested she try to combine these two passions, and we came up with a plan. Mary had been feeling increasingly isolated since Richard had passed, and a crazy idea occurred to us. As we talked, she mentioned how much she missed being around people, and we thought about how at baseball games, there are men and women who take your tickets and show you to your seats. Then you actually get to watch the game.
“How about this?” I suggested. “Why don’t you try to get a job like that at Globe Life Field [where the Texas Rangers play] and give part or all your income from working at the stadium to the church’s food bank?”
Mary’s eyes lit up. I helped Mary apply for the job, and a few weeks later she was directing baseball fans to their seats. Three months later she was a different person, raving about how much fun she was having at the ballpark and how much satisfaction she was getting from serving people at the food bank. She had even made a few new friends who shared her love of baseball, and she said she felt happier and healthier, and that her doctor had told her that her blood pressure had dropped significantly. “I get it now because I’m living it,” she told me. “I’m making a little extra money and at the same time making the world a better place. And in the process, my life has gotten a lot better.” Combining her interests with a new purpose led Mary to make new friends and enjoy the sport she loved—all while improving her health and a small slice of the world.
A physical reaction actually occurs when you are generous with both your time and money. Giving has been linked to the release of oxytocin, a hormone 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, and his colleagues found that a dose of oxytocin will cause people to give more generously and to feel more empathy toward others. And those people on an “oxytocin high” can potentially jumpstart a virtuous circle, where one person’s generous behavior triggers another’s.
I’ve seen this happen to people numerous times—they start giving, and they feel better both spiritually and physically. But don’t just take my word for it. 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, professor of preventive medicine at Stony Brook University, reports that giving to others increases health benefits in people with chronic illness, including HIV and multiple sclerosis.
- A study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University 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.
- A study of elderly couples by Stephanie Brown and her colleagues at the University of Michigan found that people 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 did not.
- A study by Rachel Piferi of Johns Hopkins University and Kathleen Lawler of the University of Tennessee found that people who provided social support to others had lower blood pressure than participants who didn’t.
- According to the Mayo Clinic, people who volunteer have lower rates of depression, lower stress levels, and may live longer.
Before Mary and I brainstormed together, she was lonely, hurting, and unsure where her future was headed after her husband passed. But after talking with her and discovering what she loved, we landed on a fantastic solution. In Mary’s case, working for her favorite baseball team while donating her income to her church’s food bank changed the trajectory of her health—and her life.
Giving makes you happier, healthier, and is contagious. But that’s not all. It’s also one of the best ways to make more money.
This excerpt is taken from “Good Money Revolution: How to Make More Money to Do More Good” by Derrick Kinney. To read other articles of this book, click here. To buy this book, click here.
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