By Sara Ghanawi | Staff Writer
After a shared period of fasting by Muslims and Christians around the world, a season of celebration ensues, imbued with the spirit of love and joy. Holidays like Eid Al Fitr and Easter are marked by various traditions, such as family gatherings, egg decorating, prayers, and festivities, and most notably the act of giving gifts and charity to those in need.
Charitable giving serves as a beautiful hallmark of holiday seasons, where people are encouraged to donate either monetarily, materialistically, or make efforts to spread holiday cheer to those who are less fortunate. Such acts of kindness foster connections of love, empathy, and compassion between human beings so that a two-way bond is formed between the giver and the beneficiary that creates a cyclical flow of positive emotions.
These donations make tangible differences to the lives of millions of people annually. Frequently, acts of giving are seen solely as practices that help those in need, with little consideration given to the reciprocal benefits on the giver.
However, helping others helps us more than what we normally contend. A deeper look into our psychology shows how a giver’s experience benefits themselves. First, several brain regions are activated through prosocial behavior, which are behaviors people do to benefit others like giving, helping, and caring for them. Rewarding centers, like the amygdala, striatum, and the prefrontal cortex, are parts of the brain responsible for reward processing and motivation and are activated by pleasures like food and sex. Studies show that such rewarding centers are also activated when people engage in giving behaviors, which indicates that such acts can create positive feelings of happiness and satisfaction for the giver and are thus rewarding.
This surge in happiness is explained by what neuroscientists call the ‘Happiness Trifecta’! The Happiness Trifecta is made up of the three happiness hormones – serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. When one of these hormones is boosted, the other two become so as well. Oxytocin, associated with social connection, pleasure, and trust, is triggered through prosocial behavior, subsequently leading to improvement in the mood of the giver. This also triggers the surge in other happiness hormones, ultimately enhancing our mood and creating a powerful pathway for personal joy.
Another piece of evidence from neuroscience regarding the benefits of giving is that of mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are neurons that get activated when we observe others’ behavior and then imitate that action. These neurons participate in empathy and imitation, such that treating others with kindness and smiling at them triggers their mirror neurons, which urges them to do the same back, creating a sense of happiness for both ends. This demonstrates how prosocial behavior creates a heartwarming cycle of smiling.
Numerous studies demonstrate how giving is related to happiness and satisfaction. A 2017 study showed that the more people give, the more satisfied they feel with their lives. Another study, in 2008 by a Harvard professor, showed that giving money to other people boosted the participants’ happiness more than spending it on themselves.
Not only does giving improve your mental health, but it also improves physical health and longevity. A longitudinal study showed that participants who engaged in prosocial behavior had reduced mortality rates when compared to the ones who didn’t. In the same line, another study showed that elderly people who volunteered with NGOs were 44% less likely to die over a five-year period when compared to those who didn’t volunteer. This is usually linked to the decreased levels of stress associated with these acts of kindness, which ultimately decreases stress-related health difficulties.
Science shows that we owe it to others, and even more to ourselves, to give, and give often. Don’t think of giving as something that is narrowed down to charity; giving can be incorporated in our habits and behavior in diverse ways. Giving could be done through advice, a smile, or even a hug. What matters is the cooperation, connections and social ties created. At the end of the day, giving is contagious! Every act of kindness of yours radiates love, shines hearts, and creates a ripple of giving in the community.