The many ways volunteering is good for your heart

If you do volunteer work, whether it’s at a school, soup kitchen, or senior center, perhaps you’ve experienced the emotional rewards of donating your time. What you might not realize, however, is that volunteering may offer some added advantages for your heart. “There’s a growing body of research showing that volunteering is associated with better physical and mental health outcomes,” says Eric S. Kim, a research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A study he co-authored, published in Social Science and Medicine earlier this year, found that volunteers were more likely to use preventive health care services. For instance, people who volunteered were 47% more likely to get cholesterol checks and 30% more likely to get flu shots than those who didn’t volunteer. (An annual flu shot appears to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke by about one-third over the following year.) Measurable gains The participants were part of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study launched in 1992 that includes more than 7,100 adults over age 50. Earlier research from the same study found that people who volunteered on a regular basis (at least 200 hours a year) were less likely to develop high blood pressure over a four-year period than non-volunteers. Volunteers also had greater increases in psychological well-being and physical activity. Another large, ongoing study of volunteerism, Baltimore Experience Corp Study, has also documented...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Behavioral Health Healthy Aging Heart Health Prevention Source Type: news