Other people often say that money can’t buy happiness.
Well, it can be true in other cases, but not in all instances.
Imagine this: you have to deal with the following:
- Bills
- Premium subscriptions
- Critical expenses
- Unforeseen payments
- Necessary purchases
- Salary cuts
- Monthly insurance obligations
As a young adult, I would not say that money does not provide satisfaction.
When you have money, you can treat yourself or whoever you like.
It motivates you, reduces your stress, and calms your mind.
That’s how money can relieve you, but that doesn’t mean you are greedy.
Unknown to many, spending money affects a person’s health and longevity.
This can boost your emotions and your wellness.
What more if you spend your money on someone else, let’s say your friends?
A research study from the University of Maribor confirmed that spending money on close friends has an impact on a person’s wellness and longevity.
These acts of kindness become a good memory that makes them satisfied.
Let’s find out together why this recent study says so.
Why Being Generous Feels Good?
Have you ever tried giving someone a gift and felt satisfied after they received it?
The feeling of being generous is not a weird feeling.
Slovenian researchers have found that kindness triggers the brain region that is responsible for pleasure, reward, and emotional connection.
When you feel good through giving a present, it’s because humans are wired to feel that way to provide for someone.
If you give a gift to someone, it creates a short-term excitement in your connection with that person.
However, spending money on someone can also be in the form of helping someone in need or providing a favor for them.
Although this cannot be entirely explained through scientific methods.
Humans are communicative in nature.
We crave some sense of belongingness and forge meaningful relationships with others.
Being kind to someone makes someone feel great because it has a direct impact on their emotional aspect.
Social Relationships’ Effects on Your Wellness
Little do people know that friendship is not just for interaction and survival, but also improves their wellness.
Throughout history, humans have thrived because they value the power of interaction and forming strong bonds with each other.
In today’s generation, people view friendship and social interaction in a polarized way.
This happens because we prioritize these aspects differently:
- Family dynamics
- Personal obligations
- Responsibilities
- Work or Career
- Finances
- Deadlines
- Needs
They mold how people treat friendship and what they can offer to their circle.
How someone treats friendship is a matter of someone who requires frequent interaction with others.
People may or may not honor friendships the same way others have provided them.
Researchers explained that strong and healthy friendships play a significant role in the development of your physical and mental wellness.
Healthy friendships may yield significant results, such as:
- Reduce feelings of loneliness
- Healthy aging
- Stronger mental health
- Resilient emotional health
- Reduced anxiety
- Lesser stress problems
Because humans are naturally interactive, we balance being alone and being communicative with others.
Long exposure to much interaction or extreme loneliness can increase your risk of being:
- Depressed
- Anxious
- Having heart complications
- High blood pressure level
- Memory decline
Aside from spending time with friends, having stronger friendships with them is crucial for your physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Spending Money on Friends Normalizes Blood Pressure
Here’s where the findings became interesting.
The researchers confirmed that being generous was proven to be more physically beneficial than just being emotionally fulfilled.
Generosity can help lower a person’s blood pressure by significantly reducing their stress levels.
When you are exposed to stress for longer, it usually affects your:
- Energy level
- Mood stability
- Anxiety level
- Immunity
- Cardiovascular health
- Quality rest
Being generous means that a person may have a satisfied heart,
This can help overcome the feeling of being alone or stressed out in their personal lives.
We don’t just merely survive by sipping a cup of coffee or being content being alone.
Spending money on someone makes the person satisfied.
This yields less stress, which eventually provides you with a healthy mind and body.
Shared Memory, Extended Happiness
Gifting your friends something special does not just end in a gift-giving moment alone.
People you have gifted often remember what you did for them.
When that becomes a part of their memory, that will extend their shared happiness with you.
In times of trials, they are reminded of your presence through a memory you have with them.
That random value you have given them makes you connected with them, however long.
They want to share their special moments with you, such as:
- Birthday celebrations
- Sleepovers
- Game nights
- Vacation memories
- Road trips
- Late-night conversations
- Random treats
- Getting treated because you are budget-tight
Who would have forgotten the great things you did with your friends?
You don’t just spend your money or other resources with them; you make them feel essential and attended to.
Aside from that, you share some of your time with them, which creates long-term happiness.
Researchers suggest that having a shared experience with friends creates lasting happiness because it emotionally connects you with them.
Those resources are the key to being emotionally connected and becoming happy.
Let’s say you are an artist and your friend bought you some art supplies.
Another case is that your friend is a baker and you bought them baking ingredients and tools.
Your friend will never forget the act of kindness you put into them; it is the same feeling when someone becomes generous to you.
Being Generous with a Purpose
An act of kindness is not a random feeling, nor should it be done with force.
Being purposefully generous stabilizes your emotional health.
People who believe that they should connect, be useful, or emotionally engage with their friends are necessary to achieve ultimate satisfaction.
For them, being generous is not proving themselves to be good people.
They show kindness to their friends because they want to establish a healthy relationship with a purpose.
A purpose can be in the form of:
- Donating to community causes
- Helping a struggling friend
- Supporting a friend in need
- Covering a friend’s expenses
- Celebrate their success
- Assisting a friend in despair
- Motivate a friend’s burnout spirit
- Protect a friend from possible harm
That kindness might be a small effort, but it’s a great help for them.
Imagine what your friend can accomplish just because of your purposeful help.
The help you provide can be their source of strength and gratitude to you in the long run.
We often do this to our friends because we treat our bond with them seriously.
A friend who gave their life in helping you is a genuine and trustworthy person.
Strong Friendship Encourages Longevity
The researchers also confirmed there’s a significant relevance between a person’s longevity and social relationships.
Other studies suggest that people with strong social relationships live longer because of the versatility of their interactions.
When you have a strong social relationship, it may help you achieve:
- Establish a healthy lifestyle
- Gain stronger emotional support
- Help reduce anxiety levels
- Become resilient to illnesses
- Being healthy most of the time
The more stable your emotional health becomes, the better your physical status will be.
This happens because your friends are present for your ups and downs.
Humans are social animals, and when you are deprived of it, your physical aspect also suffers from the lack of emotional connection.
Being Generous Matters So Much
Let’s get this clear.
Nowhere do the researchers say that you have to literally spend a large sum of money on your friends.
You don’t always need to spend your money on your friends.
Your generosity must be based on:
- Right intention
- Right lifestyle principle
- Right timing
- Right resources
- Right effort
- The right people to invest with
Although money plays a vital role in assisting your friend in need, there are valuable things to offer beyond what money can buy.
The only thing left for you to find out is to identify what would make your friend happy and be given attention.
It’s not the value that your friend is after in your gift; it’s the effort, the thought, and the connection you value.
Being generous is a sign that you have a cheerful and kind heart.
Not because you are easy to abuse, but it’s your goodness that naturally comes out of you.
Thoughtful and Impulsive Spending: The Difference
Not all friendly treats bear the same emotional impact.
There are two types of spending that you can do for your friends: thoughtful spending and impulsive spending.
Thoughtful spending, by definition, is your capacity to treat your friends by exerting effort, time, and attention to provide them the best present you will ever receive.
On the other hand, impulsive spending provides short-term excitement for your friends.
Researchers define it as prosocial spending, which is the ability to use money for the benefit of other people.
Both generosity approaches work well because they are relevant to:
- Showing some empathy
- Being emotionally connected
- Crafting some shared experience
- Building a stronger relationship
- Provide favor to boost them
Your friends remember not just your ability to share your resources with them, but also your ability to show up during challenging times.
The Challenging Part of Adulting Friendships
Friendships during adulting are challenging to balance.
You don’t just have to think about your friends; you are also dealing with other personal matters, such as:
- Work
- Finances
- Schedule
- Priorities
- Availability
Having a strong social and emotional connection with your friends makes you feel recharged and normal again.
This is your body’s way of sustaining your emotional health to become well-tended.
Friendship doesn’t always require money; it requires more of your effort, time, and necessary support.
Value Connection for a Healthy You
One thing that is certain in the study: a healthy human connection supports a healthy mind and body.
By showing effort to your friends, you’re healed from the feeling of stress and loneliness.
Small acts of kindness are a simple reminder to our friends that they matter to us.
Eventually, this will be a part of our memory that will still emotionally connect us with them.
Our ability to assist them, to show up when times are rough, or share our wins with them.
Those efforts make us connected, sane, and stable.
Treat your friendships greatly, however you can.
It doesn’t always have to be lavish, but it has to be freely given out of your joyful heart.