Increase longevity—Start volunteering for the right reasons
By Dr. Anthony Baratta, Natural News
If living a longer and healthier life interests you—you may want to consider lending a helping hand a bit more. People who regularly volunteer and for the pure satisfaction of helping others were shown to improve their longevity compared both to their non-volunteering counterparts and, better yet, even to those who volunteered but only for a personal benefit.
If living a longer and healthier life interests you—you may want to consider lending a helping hand a bit more. People who regularly volunteer and for the pure satisfaction of helping others were shown to improve their longevity compared both to their non-volunteering counterparts and, better yet, even to those who volunteered but only for a personal benefit.
Researchers from the University of Michigan
concluded this after studying a group of Wisconsin high school graduates
from 1957. The researchers caught up with over 3,000 of these
individuals, who were now age 65 years or older. They found that a
little over half of them had volunteered in the previous 10 years, and
when contacted four years later, just 2.3 % of the volunteers had died,
compared to 4.3% of non-volunteers.
The frequency of volunteer time mattered as well,
showing that less than 2% of the regular volunteers had died opposed to
2.5% of occasional volunteers.
The most interesting findings of the study, though,
revealed how motives for volunteering can have dramatic effects on our
mortality. The participants, who volunteered and did it for
compassionate reasons, were more likely to gain the most health
benefits.
However, the ones who volunteered but only did it
for personal gain or self growth, such as social interaction, getting
out of the house, escaping their own problems, etc., were as likely to
die as those who didn’t volunteer at all.
Volunteer work, when the motive is genuine, can have amazing physical benefits such as:
* Stress reduction: when helping others, your body
releases an important hormone called oxytocin, which assists in
buffering out stressful thoughts.
* Even thoughts of giving have effects on certain
chemicals of the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin ( both have been
linked with depression and other mood disorders).
* Self confidence: when you are passionate about
something and helping others in need, your self esteem will build and
confidence levels grow.
* Helping others has shown to help with chronic pain and cardiovascular health.
Aside from the health benefits, volunteering can
connect you to others and create meaningful and sincere relationships,
and it also brings great fulfillment to your life.
