Making those monthly or end-of-year donations helps others and extends your life!
As we age, retirement can offer newfound freedom and leisure time. However, it’s important to maintain a sense of purpose and connection to our communities. Volunteering and charitable giving can significantly benefit older adults, enriching their lives in numerous ways. By dedicating time or resources to causes we care about, we can experience a stronger sense of purpose and deeper social connections. However, there are also physical and mental health benefits to charitable work that may extend the lives of older adults. Let’s explore the many advantages of giving back as we grow older.
- Lower Blood Pressure: Studies have shown that giving even small amounts of money and/or time lowers blood pressure, which can extend your life. One research study gave participants in two groups $40 a month to spend. One group had to spend it on others, and the other group was required to spend it on themselves. The group that spent the $40 on others had significant drops in blood pressure after just three months. All the studies I reviewed demonstrated the link between generosity and the lowering of blood.
- Ease Depression: If depression is something you experience (and many feel more down in the winter), look for opportunities to volunteer where you are doing hands-on work. This activity alone was said to help individuals reframe their problems and stay connected to those who needed their gifts of time or physical help. I had the experience of collecting food for our local food bank and a very depressed middle-aged woman approached the store. While I explained what we were doing, she had a hard time smiling but took our card. A short time later, she came out of the store with three very large containers of peanut butter and three super-sized boxes of cereal to donate to the food bank. This woman did not buy anything other than what she gave us. She had a big smile and was standing tall as she exited, and I just had to give her a hug–with her permission! My hope is her day was changed by her gift of generosity.
- Regulate Stress Levels: Lowering blood pressure is not the only physiological change that happens when you volunteer. Cortisol levels may also dip on the days when one is volunteering. Cortisol is released when your body feels stressed, helping to engage the “fight-or-flight” response. Although a stress response is critical in a potentially dangerous situation, too much stress can lead to mood disorders, headaches, weight gain, and cardiovascular disease. A 2020 study found that adults over 60 who were experiencing chronic stress due to the functional limitations of aging demonstrated more balanced cortisol levels on days they spent time doing volunteer work.
- Reduce Mortality: Many older adults find comfort in time spent attending and volunteering at their church. In the 1990s, researchers in Marin County, California spent 10 years studying the mortality rates of over 2,000 adults aged 55 or older. They found that those with a high volunteering rate (2 or more organizations) had a 44% reduction in mortality rates. Even more significant, participants with any level of volunteering at their religious organizations showed a 60% reduced mortality rate. These participants also identified a higher level of perceived social support; in other words, they felt like they were giving to a community that was also giving to them.
As you provide a gift or help to an individual, your brain secretes “feel good” chemicals such as:
- Serotonin (which regulates your mood)
- Dopamine (which gives a sense of pleasure)
- Oxytocin (which creates a sense of connection with others).
Doing good for others helps us to feel joyful and engaged. Volunteer programs designed to help others in need can be seen as an intervention strategy for individuals living under stressful conditions.
Making Your Donations Count
Choosing where to give donations can be overwhelming with the number of requests we all receive via our technology and the mail. Choose wisely: If you don’t have an organization in mind, think about your values and what is important to you. It might be children’s health, the environment, endangered species, space exploration, food insecurity, homelessness etc. Once you’ve identified a cause that interests you, you can use a website like Charity Navigator to identify organizations that align with your priorities.
In our communities, we have many local small nonprofits that you might not find on such a site. So ask your friends and neighbors about the local organizations they support and why. You might find one that suits you as well. Also, belonging to a club or organization such as Rotary is a way to have hands-on volunteer opportunities as well as a place to make donations that can be directed to be local or international project.
As you get ready to make end-of-year donations as a tax deduction, use your financial planner and/or tax advisor as a resource. For those of you with IRA or 401(k)s, making donations using these funds could be a help to you as well as the non-profit.
If you are at a place where making donations does not work in your budget – see if you can budget just a few hours a week of your time. This non-monetary donation is beneficial to your health and will raise all those helpful hormones.weekly.
Gratitude is the Right Attitude
Practicing gratitude does much the same for the mind and body that generosity does. We tend to think of what we are grateful for during the month of Thanksgiving. However, developing a daily practice of focusing on gratitude goes a long way to balancing out those stressful or “blue” days.
- Each morning before you get out of bed focus on a few of the relationships or life experiences you have been grateful for in your life.
- Each night before you close your eyes for the night think of what you are most grateful for in that day. Some days this is very easy because of a visit with a special someone, and some hard days you might have to go to something as insignificant as a good cup of coffee.
What is important is that you are always finding blessings in life and in each day. We all have periods in life when finding this is a challenge – but with intention, we all can find something to be grateful for!
Approach this Thanksgiving with a focus on beginning a new daily “gratitude practice”!
Be well!