Health Benefits of Volunteering

There’s no doubt about it; volunteering is good for your health. There are many studies to back this up, and it just makes good sense, so why aren’t you volunteering yet? C’mon… it’ll be fun.

There have been a lot of studies to support the fact that volunteering not only helps the charity, but it also helps you. In one study, people who suffer from chronic pain and volunteered as peer counselors found that not only did their disability decrease, but so did their depression. Another study followed more than 7,500 U.S. seniors and found that those who volunteer have a much lower death rate than those who don’t. That may be because it gives seniors a sense of purpose after retirement, which is something so many people struggle with. When you volunteer, not only are you needed, but you can usually see the results of your labor.

But, volunteering doesn’t just help the elderly. On college campuses, one survey found that those students who volunteer regularly had a 26 percent less risk of binge drinking.

Volunteering can also help you be more physically active, depending on which type of opportunity you choose. If, let’s say, you choose to help build or restore a house, you not only get all the benefits mentioned above, but you also get to be active and get in some exercise – and you can’t argue that exercise is beneficial to your health. But, building houses isn’t the only active form of volunteerism. You can volunteer to help clean up trash on the beach, maintain a hiking trail or clean up a park. You can even volunteer as a Big Brother or Big Sister to a child in need and get exercise by playing basketball, riding bikes or even just going for a walk with your little sibling.