Every day, we are confronted with choices about how to spend our money. Whether it’s thinking about picking up the tab at a group lunch or receiving a call from a charity asking for a donation, we are faced with the decision to behave generously or not.
Research suggests that spending money on others can improve happiness, but can it also improve your physical health?
There is some evidence that donating time can improve physical health, but no one has looked at whether donating money has the same effect.
So my colleagues and I at the University of British Columbia decided to conduct an experiment to find out if spending money on others could lower blood pressure. The study was published in the journal Health Psychology in December 2015.
Helpful People Might Be Healthier
Volunteers help hand out food to prepare Thanksgiving meals to those in need in New York on Nov. 25, 2015. Andrew Burton/Getty Images
