Christmas is essentially a religiously designated season for giving. But research shows that giving round the year can significantly boost one’s physical health and mental well-being.
However, the frenzy of Christmas shopping and the planning for parties can distract one from the purpose of giving to other people.
It is now clear that doing good to others without any expectation of reward can significantly improve our physical and mental health. It has been known to increase the life span, too.
A US-based researcher, Stephen G. Post, puts it this way, “A remarkable fact is that giving, even in later years, can delay death. The impact of giving is just as significant as not smoking and avoiding obesity.”
Indeed one study of 2, 025 older residents of California found among those, who volunteered for two or more organisations, a 44 per cent reduction in mortality for over five years, in spite of their previous health challenges.
Just as giving material things can boost mental health, ‘hands on’ and volunteering has enormous boost for our well-being. This may take the form of kindness to others, as well as spending for others.
Studies have established that those who spent money on others, or on a charity venture, are happier than those who perpetually spend on themselves. The problem with giving at Christmas and during any other religious festival is that we get sucked into the commercial and the religious rituals and forget the true meaning of the event.
However, if the reason for giving is to make another person happy, you feel better when the person appreciates it. Although nobody fully understands how giving boosts health, reduction in the rate of exposure to stress hormones may be one factor.
Knowing that you have done something to improve the life of other people does not only boosts your self esteem, it gives you a sense of purpose and also shifts your attention away from stressful situations and worries.
Giving also integrates us more solidly into supportive social networks .A good number of mental illnesses are caused by major life events that challenge and overstretch the psychological resources of individuals to a point that requires some form of external support that can augment the coping mechanisms. If you have given in a social network, they will come to your assistance at this point too.
This is very crucial since shared social support is one of the things that would probably play a major role in longevity with some great impact on mental health. Some of the other changes, which take place when we give, have even been observed in brain scans.
Studies involving functional magnetic resonance imaging scans have shown that donating money to charity with well thought out meaning triggers the same pleasure and reward systems in the brain as food and sex.
If you don’t have time to commit to regular volunteer work, you can experience the benefits of giving by practicing simple acts of kindness, such as providing shelter for the homeless, phoning or visiting a housebound person, collecting goods for a charity, supervising a thoughtful and considerate distribution, as well as allowing an elderly person to stay in front of you in a queue or traffic.
You can also grant scholarship to an indigent student, assist a colleague at work to find a solution to a problem and help to provide care for the mentally ill or set aside funds for the widows.
However, it is important that the primary motive to enhance someone else’s well-being is not just about self aggrandizement, which will invariably lead to resentment if such acts are not properly appreciated.
The prevalent harsh socio-economic situation itself is responsible for the increase in mental illness, which can be relieved through social support intervention from the privileged. This invariably results in a sound mental well-being for the giver.
However, greed serves as the template for developing different kinds of mental illness, which is prevalent among those in positions of authority in Nigeria, whether in religion, politics, academics or business. Unfortunately, this has set a template that guarantees perpetual increase in the incidence of mental illness for both the poor and the rich.
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