2023-10-14 11:32:00
Indeed, according to recent studies, the most effective and easy method to improve your mental health and therefore increase your happiness is very simple: helping others. And when we know that the Belgian is known for taking too many antidepressants (and very often in an approximate manner), a bit of empathy and altruism might do good for the morale of the Belgians.
We don’t always realize that we are happy
An explosive cocktail of hormones
Yes, helping others would be THE solution to improving your mental health.
According to Susan Albers, PsyD, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, several studies prove this. “It has been shown to reduce levels of stress, depression and anxiety and improve your overall health and life satisfaction,” she explains.
But how to explain this? Like a very good sports session which releases endorphins (the pleasure hormone), volunteering releases an explosive cocktail of endorphins, serotonins (the happiness hormone) and dopamines. A trio of happy hormones that will undoubtedly lift your spirits.
Moreover, a study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies confirms this. According to this 2020 study, those who volunteered at least once a month had significantly better mental health than those who did not. And for those who had low morale, dedicating their time to others and engaging in volunteering also had a nice positive impact on their mental health. Another study carried out by the Christian Mutuality and the psychology faculty of UCLouvain in 2019 also affirms that people involved in associative life are in better health!
Create social connections
In addition, investing in volunteering and devoting part of your time to others not only strengthens social bonds but also creates a feeling of community and belonging to a group.
“I like to sit down at the end of the day and feel like I’ve done something constructive and useful,” a Mary’s Meals volunteer living in Belfast told Huffington Post. “It made me pay more attention and feel like it’s not just regarding me. It made me more grateful for what I already have,” declared another volunteer in the title.
In Belgium, there are nearly 736,000 volunteers, most often in the cultural or socio-cultural sector. And if Nicolas Evrard, journalist for “Plus Magazine” confirms it in the lines of RTBF, “It allows you to meet people, limit isolation, integrate socially. And that is very important when you get older , I repeat it to you almost every other time. By becoming a volunteer, you develop strong bonds, beautiful friendships. It’s not the same relationship as work colleagues, it’s more intense, because here you are in a perspective of efficiency rather than profitability, often with limited resources. In short, volunteering, as a general rule, is good for your health!” You must not fall into the trap of overdoing it.
Are Belgians happy? What a vast survey reveals
Finding the right balance
This is what Nicolas Evrard underlines, “Volunteering is all well and good, but as everyone who does it or has done it will confirm, it is also a bit of a priesthood. Not only are we not paid – well, that’s logical, it’s the principle – but in addition you often have to go a little out of your own pocket (for equipment, travel, the allocated resources are often boundaries). We don’t always get the recognition from the authorities that we deserve. Whereas without volunteers, there are quite a few sectors that would not be able to function properly. And then, it can be quite tiring from time to time, all the same.”
So be careful! Especially since the areas where volunteering is involved are often causes that are close to our hearts. So be careful not to get so involved that you forget regarding yourself…
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