boy and grandfather

Your Generosity Heals

Did you know that generosity is powerful medicine? Studies show that when you give, it reduces your stress, alleviates depression, and gives you a greater sense of happiness. Being generous also enhances mental and emotional health by boosting social connectedness, optimism, and contentment. It may even lower your blood pressure and extend your life!

two women reading tablet

Whole Person Health Education Fund

When you give to AdventHealth’s Whole Person Health Education Fund, you not only help yourself—you help create vital, innovative materials to educate and empower others. You help them discover the healthiest lifestyle on earth. A lifestyle that research shows will add years of health and well-being to the lives of those who embrace it. Just think of the mighty ripple effect these resources will have of improved health and happiness in our communities, our country, and even around the world!

Experience the benefits of giving by donating to the Whole Person Health Education Fund today. 100 percent of your gift will support these life-changing resources.

If you need assistance, please call us at Call 407-303-2784 from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, or email us at [email protected].

5 Ways Giving Is Good for You

The University of California Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center suggests five compelling ways giving is good for you. They include:

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  • child kissing smiling mother

    Happiness

    Research shows giving to someone else makes us happier than if we had used the funds on ourselves. One National Institutes of Health study showed that charitable giving stimulates parts of the brain associated with pleasure.

  • woman hugging man with tennis racket

    Health

    Generosity promotes better health across all ages, even benefiting those with chronic illnesses. Studies found that individuals who gave enjoyed lower blood pressure, experienced less stress, had lower levels of depression, and a greater sense of happiness and wellbeing. Some studies show that giving may even increase your lifespan!

  • family playing soccer

    Social connectedness

    When you give, you feel closer to the other person, and they feel closer to you. These feelings of connection with others create better mental and emotional health in the one who gives.

  • toddler and grandmother hugging

    Gratitude

    Giving creates a sense of gratitude in both the giver and the receiver—and that grateful feeling also helps create optimism and contentment with one’s life.

  • women giving woman glass while packing

    Ripple effect

    When you give, it inspires others that know of your gift to be generous as well. Studies have shown that generosity can affect others by three degrees, potentially impacting dozens of people you don’t even know.

References

GIVING

Jill Suttie and Jason Marsh, “5 Ways Giving Is Good for You,” Greater Good Magazine, December 13, 2010,

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/5_ways_giving_is_good_for-you.

HAPPINESS

Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton, “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness,” Science

319, no. 5870 (March 21, 2008), 1687-8, https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.1150952.

Jorge Moll et al., “Human Fronto-Mesolimbic Networks Guide Decisions About Charitable Donation,” Proceedings

of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103, no. 42 (October 17, 2006): 15623-

15628, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0604475103.

HEATLH

Stephen Post and Jill Neimark, Why Good Things Happen to Good People: The Exciting New Research that Proves

the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life (New York: Broadway Books, 2007).

A.V. Whillans et al., “Is Spending Money on Others Good for Your Heart?” Health Psychology 35, no. 6, 574-583,

https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000332.

Rodlescia S. Sneed and Sheldon Cohen, “A Prospective Study of Volunteerism and Hypertension Risk in Older

Adults,” Psychology and Aging 28, no. 2 (2013): 578-586, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032718.

Christie Nicholson, “Generosity Might Keep Us Healthy,” Scientific American podcast, October 23, 2010,

https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/generosity-might-keep-us-healthy-10-10-26/.

Marc Musick and John Wilson, “Volunteering and Depression: The Role of Psychological and Social Resources in

Different Age Groups,” Social Science and Medicine 56, no. 2 (January 2003): 259-69,

https://doi.org/10.1016/s0277-9536(02)00025-4.

Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson, The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose (New York:

Oxford University Press, 2014).

Stephen G. Post, “Altruism, Happiness, and Health: It’s Good to Be Good,” International Journal of Behavioral

Medicine 12 (2005): 66-77, https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1202_4.

Doug Oman, Carl E. Thoresen, and Kay Mcmahon, “Volunteerism and Mortality among the Community-dwelling

Elderly,” Journal of Health Psychology 4, no. 3 (May 1, 1999), 301-316,

https://doi.org/10.1177%2F135910539900400301.

Stephanie L. Brown et al., “Providing Social Support May Be More Beneficial Than Receiving It: Results from a

Prospective Study of Mortality,” Psychological Science 14, no. 4 (July 2003): 320-7,

https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.14461.

SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS

Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want (New York: Penguin,

2008).

Stephen G. Post, The Hidden Gifts of Helping: How the Power of Giving, Compassion, and Hope Can Get Us

Through Hard Times (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011).

GRATITUDE

Michael E. McCullough, Robert A. Emmons, Jo-Ann Tsang, “The Grateful Disposition: A Conceptual and Empirical

Topography,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82, no. 1 (January 2002): 112-27,

https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.82.1.112.

RIPPLE EFFECT

James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis, “Cooperative Behavior Cascades in Human Social Networks,”

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107, no. 12 (March 23, 2010):

5334-5338, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913149107.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Michael Orlich et al., “Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Mortality in Adventist Health Study 2,” JAMA Internal

Medicine 173, no 13 (July 8, 2013): 1230-8, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6473.

“Loma Linda, California,” Blue Zones, 2008, https://www.bluezones.com/exploration/loma-linda-california.

Dawn Handschuh, “Adventist Health Studies,” Nutrition Facts,

https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/adventist-health-studies.

Veronique Bouvard et al., “Carcinogenicity of Consumption of Red and Processed Meat,” The Lancet Oncology

16, no. 16 (December 1, 2015): 1599-1600, https://doi.org/10.1016/s1470-2045(15)00444-1.

Yanping Li et al., “Impact of Healthy Lifestyle Factors on Life Expectancies in the US Population,” Circulation 138,

no. 4 (April 30, 2018): 345-355, https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032047.

Pramil N. Singh, “Does Low Meat Consumption Increase Life Expectancy in Humans?” The American Journal of

Clinical Nutrition 78, no. 3 (September 2003): 526S-532S, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/78.3.526S.

N. Wright et al., “The BROAD Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial Using a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet in the

Community for Obesity, Ischaemic Heart Disease or Diabetes,” Nutrition & Diabetes 7, no. 3 (March 20, 2017):

e256, https://doi.org/10.1038/nutd.2017.3.

Dean Ornish et al., “Can Lifestyle Changes Reverse Coronary Heart Disease?” The Lancet 336, no. 8708 (July 21,

1990): 129-133, https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-6736(90)91656-U.

Caldwell Esselstyn and Mladen Golubic, “The Nutritional Reversal of Cardiovascular Disease: Fact or Fiction?

Three Case Reports,” Experimental and Clinical Cardiology 20, no. 7 (January 2014): 1901-1908.

Daniele Massera et al., “Angina Rapidly Improved with a Plant-Based Diet and Returned after Resuming a

Western Diet,” Journal of Geriatric Cardiology 13, no. 4 (May 2016): 364-6,

http://www.jgc301.com/en/article/doi/10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2016.04.005.