May
It's slowly getting warmer again, the sun is shining and it's only natural that spring makes us feel happy. It's no wonder that beaming faces and people in love are part of the cityscape again! Yet there are studies that prove that you can have a lasting positive influence on your own happiness and health - by giving.
A number of studies have shown that selfless behaviour increases happiness and physical health for everyone involved: the giver, the receiver and even the observer. It is worth noting that the giver benefits even more from their positive behaviour than the recipient.
Among other things, it has been shown to increase feelings of happiness, general satisfaction and physical health, with particular effects on insomnia, migraines, colds, depression and even asthma and cancer.
A study by Harvard University in the USA, led by David McCelland, focussed on altruism and the effects of altruistic acts on the immune system. The scientists were surprised to discover that positive action in an altruistic sense (i.e. selfless and altruistic giving) has positive long-term effects on the immune system. It doesn't even matter whether you are the giver or the recipient of a kind gesture - just observing an altruistic act has a positive effect on the body!
To test this, psychologist David McCelland showed films of altruistic acts to university students and then measured the antibodies in saliva that are responsible for the body's defences. The values were better after watching altruistic acts than before! This groundbreaking discovery was soon given the euphonious name "the healing power of helping".
The following happened in the bodyImmunoglobulin are antibodies in the salivary fluid of humans. These antibodies fight infections and diseases. Anyone who witnessed a selfless, altruistic act had more immunoglobulin in their body after observing or performing the act than before and was therefore stronger and had better defences.
The character is also influenced. But it's not just happiness and the immune system that benefit from altruistic acts, character is also influenced and even changed in the long term. Scientists at Harvard University found that people who actively perform altruistic acts develop a certain type of trust over time, which is also known as "affiliative trust". "Affiliative trust" describes how positively one values interpersonal relationships. Those who have developed the ability to view interpersonal relationships as something fundamentally positive and meaningful have developed a special kind of trust.
Why is this important? Almost 10 years after the study in which the test subjects had developed and cultivated "Affiliative Trust" on the basis of altruistic acts, they had fewer cases of serious illnesses than the control group. They were also happier and more positive overall and felt that they were leading a positive life worth living.
So nature never ceases to amaze us. This time it is the fact that giving and helping are good for our well-being, our body and our personality. Unbelievable but true!
