Volunteering helps to rebuild communities and solve serious social problems. And, according to research, it can also improve your physical and mental health!

• Volunteer work improves the well being of individual volunteers because it enhances social support networks. People with strong social support networks have lower premature death rates, less heart disease, and fewer health risk factors. (Fact Sheet: Volunteering as a Vehicle for Social Support and Life Satisfaction, Public Health Agency of Canada)
  
  
• Volunteering can improve self-esteem, reduce heart rates and blood pressure, increase endorphin production, enhance immune systems, buffer the impact of stress, and combat social isolation. (Research Summary: Graff, L. (1991). Volunteer for the Health of It, Etobicoke, Ontario: Volunteer Ontario.)
  
  
• Volunteering lowers the risk of physical ill health because it boosts the social psychological factors that healthy people have. (The Effects of Volunteering on the Volunteer, John Wilson and Marc Musik, 62 Law & Contemp. Probs., Autumn 1999)
  
  
• Medical and scientific documentation supports that volunteering results in a heightened sense of well being, improves insomnia, strengthens the immune system, and hastens surgery recovery time. (The Healing Power of Doing Good, Allan Luks & Peggy Payne)
  
  
• Volunteering puts people into highly social situations, increasing the opportunity for close interpersonal relationships and strengthening a sense of identity. (Peer Counseling Perspectives, April 2003 Survival News, Mary Lynn Hemphill, “Volunteer For Your Health”)
  

Volunteering also offers numerous health benefits specific to older adults.

• Volunteering gives older adults an opportunity to participate in fulfilling activities, which can make a difference in the lives of others.
  
  
• Helping to better situations for others contributes to healthy communities. Older adult volunteers feel a sense of community inclusion which has a positive impact on their health and overall well being.
  
  
• Volunteer activities help older adults improve self confidence and self esteem, which helps reduce blood pressure and improves immune function.
  
  
• Volunteer activities help older adults form interpersonal ties and develop social networks. Like family and friends, these networks act as a buffer against stress and illness.
  
  
• Older adult volunteers live longer than non-volunteers. Studies report that engaging in regular volunteer work increases life expectancy because social interaction improves quality of life.

Resources and Research on Health Benefits of Volunteering

The following are U.S. studies that have documented the health benefits of volunteering.

University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, March 1999. (Marc A. Musik, A. Regula Herzog and James S. House, Volunteering and Mortality among Older Adults: Findings from a National Sample)

Cornell University, Cornell Applied Gerontology Research Institute, 1998. Social Integration and Longevity, Cornell Retirement and Well Being Study)

Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Department of Sociology. John Wilson, author, “Volunteering”.

Paul Arnstein, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Nursing, Boston College, “From Chronic Pain Patient to Peer and Benefits Risks of Volunteering,” (evaluated patients suffering chronic pain and discovered those who volunteered reported a reduction in pain and depression.)

Stephanie Brown, Randolph Nesse, Amiram D. Vinokur and Dylan M. Smith, “Providing Social Support May Be More Beneficial Than Receiving It: Results from a Prospective Study of Mortality,” Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, as printed in American Psychological Society, Vol. 14, No.4, July 6. 2003.

Roger King, “Volunteerism by the Elderly as an Intervention for Promoting Successful Aging,” March 28, 1996.

Doug Oman and Kay McMahon, Buck Centre for Research in Aging in California; and Carol E Thoresen, Stanford University, Volunteerism and Mortality Among the Community-Dwelling Elderly.

Web sites referencing health benefits of volunteering:

The benefits of volunteering: personal health, skill building and community: http://www.wcwc.org/volunteer.htm

Edward V. Brown, a chiropractic doctor in Oregon with special interests in holistic health: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/brown.html