Is Sending A Christmas Card Good For Your Health?

It's that time of year again (for at least 160 countries that celebrate Christmas). Carolers begin to appear on the streets (well, on the streets of the usual Christmas movies on TV); Holiday songs are playing on the radio (non-stop, actually). And going to parties with our colleagues. Christmas seems to be a time of joy and happiness.

But while Christmas is a widely celebrated holiday, it also brings mixed emotions. Studies dating back to the 1950s show some of us adding signs of depression during this time, as visitors rushed to buy gifts and decorate houses, trees, and sometimes even rooftops and gardens. A phenomenon called "holiday blues".

In fact, recent research shows that a quarter of people find the Christmas season stressful and can affect their mental health.

Against this background, I worked with colleagues in the Department of Psychology at the University of Limerick in Ireland, as well as the University of Liverpool in England, to find out whether there are different behaviors when sending Christmas cards at Christmas. It reveals something to us. . on the sender. why do you want Perhaps already depressed people, this Christmas season full of social behavior can be dangerous due to a lack of motivation or enjoyment of their usual behavior - in this case, sending Christmas cards. Lack of happiness and motivation are the main characteristics of depression.

Additionally, we know that social gestures such as expressing gratitude in letters and postcards can stimulate positive emotions in both the recipient and the sender. So sending Christmas cards can be viewed as more than just exchanging kind words during the holiday season. We want to know if Christmas cards can make senders happy. Furthermore, since Christmas is a Christian holiday, while sending cards and greetings is considered a traditional and normal behavior, we wanted to know whether it is open to all religious groups or only to Christians.

Since Henry Cole, the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum, sent the first Christmas card in 1843, billions of cards have been sent every year in England alone to celebrate the festive season, nearly 1 billion. Also, the exchange of Christmas 2020 Christmas cards increased, even though shipping decreased. So, given the popularity of sending Christmas cards, we conducted this study to see if there is a relationship between Christmas cards and depressive symptoms.

What did the study find?

55% of people with depression said they sent Christmas cards, compared to 46% of those without depression. Taking gender, ethnicity and religion into account, the study found that the decline in the likelihood of sending a postcard was only for Christians and not for other religions.

Christmas cards and your mind

Source: Bridget Tom/Pex

We used data from over 2,400 people who participated in the UK Wave 5 database. We then asked whether people sent Christmas cards in categories such as "always", "sometimes", "never" and "never". ". in order to." Participants reported depressive symptoms on a validated psychometric scale. In this measure, we divided people with and without depression based on established thresholds. For our main analysis (i.e., regression and chi-square), we also considered their gender, education, monthly income, ethnicity, and Christian affiliation.

What does it all mean?

Our research shows that sending Christmas cards can help understand the behavior of depressed people, especially Christians today. However, the behavior of other religious groups around holidays may reflect these cultural values. Additionally, previous research has shown that social gestures such as expressing gratitude in letters and postcards evoke positive feelings in both the recipient and the recipient, and here we found that it goes beyond exchanging kind words and well wishes. Holiday season.

These results suggest that senders' emotions influence Christmas behaviors. The results or how the results are used, the study requires different and more work. If you do not hear from someone who sends you a Christmas card regularly, it may be useful to check and distribute them. Christmas greetings. .. In addition, we know that art therapy is often used for people suffering from depression, and perhaps creating and sending postcards like this can be used as an activity in these situations.

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