According to the Bible, it’s better to give than to receive.
It seems that this is true when it comes to keeping your heart healthy.
Scientists found giving presents lowered volunteers’ blood pressure and heart rate and kept arteries feeding the heart in good condition.
The same effect was not achieved if you were the one receiving the gift.
According to psychologists from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), giving Christmas gifts to loved ones and friends may reduce your risk of stroke or heart attack.
Scientists found giving presents lowered volunteers’ blood pressure and heart rate and kept arteries feeding the heart in good condition (stock image)
British consumers spend up to £80billion a year during the festive season, the bulk of which goes on gifts.
Studies in the past have demonstrated that giving back can improve self-esteem and mood.
UCLA wanted to know if this also benefits the heart.
They recruited 90 college students and first exposed them to a stressful situation – telling them they had just minutes to prepare for a speech that they had to deliver to an audience. They were monitored by monitors to measure their blood pressure and heart beat.
Half the students were then told that they could select a gift card to send along with an email message explaining why they selected them.
All others were permitted to select a gift card they wanted for themselves. These results were published in Psychophysiology. They showed that blood pressure and heart rate both decreased significantly after stressed students could send gifts to loved ones.
The effect on those who were given a present was lower.
Researchers said prosocial behaviour – where individuals do things for the benefit of others rather than themselves – was already known to bolster psychological wellbeing. But the latest study shows it’s also good for the heart.
However, being the gift recipient did not create the same impact (stock photo).
In a report on the findings the researchers said: ‘Prosocial behaviour – or the warm glow of giving – can have many benefits.
‘As well as reducing heart rate and blood pressure, it lowers rates of depression and stress.
‘We found it had a greater effect than self-rewarding behaviour.’
Professor Cary Cooper, psychologist and stress expert at Alliance Manchester Business School, said: ‘Giving gifts or helping others makes us more sociable and less aggressive.
‘Much of our normal lives are spent earning money to look after ourselves and our families, often in jobs where sometimes you have to be ruthless with other people.
‘Giving Christmas presents is a chance to compensate for that – and it’s good for our health.’