People who give time to charity "glow with happiness" for an average of 24 days afterwards, according to a study by the charity Guide Dogs.

According to the research, people who donate money will experience a mood lift for one week after giving, while those who donate time will ‘glow’ for longer.

Consultant psychologist Dr Glenn Wilson, who conducted the study said: “Money offers no guarantee of increasing happiness but giving it away certainly does. This research confirms that an even better route to happiness is giving one's time to a charitable cause. This provides an improved sense of purpose and self-worth that has been described as a warm glow."

The research was conducted using more than 2,000 people. Of those questioned, 77 per cent said they had supported a charity in some way during the past 12 months. Of those, 95 per cent said they were left with feelings of positivity after donating their time to a good cause.

The analysis involved a psychological test to rate general happiness among those that do and do not give to charity. The overall results revealed that people who donated to charity in the last 12 months were 12 per cent happier with their lives and were more likely to report having a sense of inner calm compared with those who had not donated.

Women experienced a stronger emotional impact than men, with feelings of positivity lasting an average of 20 days longer than men after giving time to charity.  

Younger people aged between 18 and 24-years-old also claimed to ‘glow’ with happiness for longer than any other age group - an average of 34 days after donating time to charity.

“Young people may be particularly placed to benefit from the warm glow provided by helping their community or fundraising because the modern world promotes immediate, superficial pleasure at the expense of deeper altruistic values,” said Wilson.

Guide Dogs’ chief executive, Richard Leaman, said: “Every hour of every day someone in the UK loses their sight. We know that by donating just an hour to Guide Dogs, our volunteer fundraisers make a real difference to the lives of people with sight loss. It’s no wonder they feel happy, knowing that they’ve made such as positive impact.”