Why Generosity Is Good For Your Health

Being generous can help lower your body's reaction to stress, improve your happiness, and add years to your life. Here's what you should know.

In the iconic Charles Dickens novella, “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge turns towards generosity.

More than a century and half later, the story remains popular, never going out of print.

“Philosophers, religious leaders, mystics, and poets have for millennia said, in various oft-quoted phrases, that it is good to be good to others,” writes Stephen G. Post, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. 

“We can say with certainty that it is good to be good. Not only ancient wisdom, but also science says it is so.” To be clear, compassion and generosity are good for your happiness and your health.

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Generosity lowers stress

One study found that people who are happy because they feel they are living ethically enjoy lower levels of the cellular inflammation that sets many diseases in motion, including cancer. People who have pleasurable lives didn’t do as well in the research.

If your life is stressful, acting altruistically can help minimize the damage. Past altruism helps, too. If you encounter stress, you are more likely to die during the next year — but not if you have been altruistic.

Generosity improves happiness

Other studies have found that people who spend money on others may feel better than spending it on themselves. Even children as young as two get more benefit from giving treats to others.

Although altruism boosts happiness everywhere, it may benefit you even more in highly individualistic cultures like the United States.

Why is compassion good for you?

If you are empathetic, you may tend to steer clear of risky behaviors, such as drinking and smoking. That’s one reason programs designed to fight addiction suggest serving others; service helps focus your attention on others, rather than on yourself.  

Behaving altruistically can even reduce acute and chronic pain, and the evidence shows up in brain scans.

Spending on others may lower you blood pressure, other research found.

When researchers at Cornell University interviewed more than 300 women in 1956 and 30 years later, they found that women who volunteered to help other people at least once a week lived longer and were physically healthier.  

Many studies show similar links between volunteering and longevity, according to a meta-analysis.

Although being the caregiver of an ill spouse is stressful, a study of more than 3,000 married seniors found that spouses who spent at least 14 hours a week providing active care lived longer.

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