Why Charity is a Win-Win Habit

We focus a lot on education, since nothing empowers people more than this aspect of life. Students in rural areas lack the much-needed training and exposure to pass entrance exams to study in prestigious institutions and other competitive exams. It is to fill this gap that we have started the Manappuram Academy.

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The joy of giving is a special kind of happiness that is difficult to describe. There have been many attempts to understand and define the heady feeling that people get when they part with something for the benefit of someone who needs it badly. As the Manappuram Foundation handed over the keys of 25 newly-built houses to destitute families in Valapad recently, I could not but ponder about the fundamental aspects of charity and altruism.

In a 2006 study, Jorge Moll and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, of US, found that when people donate to charities, it activates regions of the brain associated with pleasure, social bonding and trust, creating what the scientists called a 'warm glow' effect. The scientists also found that altruistic behaviour, which is the selfless act of doing a good deed, releases endorphins in the brain, producing a positive feeling which has been labelled as the 'Helper's High'.