If you resolved to volunteer and do more charitable work in the new year, your may also being doing good by your health.
According to new research out of the University of Albany, doing good for others has beneficial effects on numerous aspects of a person’s health. In order to come to this conclusion, researchers had to examine two different sets of studies. The first study examined charitable donations across the US based on tax return information, and the second study looked at the overall health of people who donated to charity. Other data, including a survey of charitable donations and overall health was also used to gauge the effects of charitable giving. After looking at the data, lead research Dr. Baris Yörük uncovered:
- Only 0.8 percent of people who said they donated to charity reported that they had poor health, while 36.6 reported excellent health. On the flip side, of the people who said they didn’t donate to charity, 4.9 percent reported they had poor health, while only 20.5 percent reported having excellent health.
- Those who gave to charity had a lower risk of certain health problems, like hypertension, obesity, heart attack and cancer.
- Those who gave to charity also had lower stress levels, stronger immune systems and had longer life expectancy.
- A 1 percent increase in charitable giving was associated with a 0.1 percent increase on a 5-point health scale.
Dr. Yörük concluded that charitable work and the ability to write off charitable tax deductions are associated eith improved overall health.
“My research concludes that if giving to others is better for health, and if tax subsidies significantly increase charitable giving, then increasing tax subsidies may have positive ‘spillover effects’ on health,” said Yörük, adding, “Further expansions in charitable giving tax subsidies would not only increase the amount of charitable donations but also may positively affect the health status of the individuals in the United States. However, more research is needed.”
Volunteering Beneficial Too
Research also suggests that volunteering has been shown improve health outcomes. According to a systematic review of more than 40 academic papers, researchers out of the United Kingdom found that people who volunteered had lower levels of depression and higher levels of well-being and overall satisfaction than people who didn’t volunteer.
A related study out of Carnegie Mellon found that volunteers had lower blood pressure than non-volunteers, and teenagers who volunteered had better heart health than teens who didn’t volunteer.
Related source: NewsMax.com
