Volunteer your way to better health

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Editorial+Volunteer+your+better+health/8071788/story.html

Vancouver Sun editorial March 8, 2013

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Many observational studies have found that people who volunteer enjoy many health benefits, from fewer specific health problems such as high blood pressure, to fewer functional limitations, to the best health benefit of all — reduced mortality.

However, it has never been clear if volunteering was actually a cause of those benefits. To determine if that is the case, we need to conduct randomized trials, in which participants are randomly assigned to two groups, one which volunteers and one which doesn’t. Researchers can then assess participants’ health and see if those in the volunteering group enjoy improved health compared to those who don’t.

Fortunately, such trials are now being conducted, and the results of one trial have just been published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers at the University of British Columbia led by Hannah Schreier divided 106 high school sophomores into two groups, one of which volunteered about one to 1.5 hours a week for 10 weeks, and the other of which was wait-listed to volunteer at a later date.

The researchers assessed all participants for several cardiovascular risk factors, including body mass index, cholesterol and levels of inflammation. And while there was no significant difference between the two groups at the start of the study, the students in the volunteer group had significantly lower body mass indexes and levels of inflammation, and significantly improved cholesterol profiles, after the volunteering period.

Although it might seem odd for volunteering to have such an effect, we do know that volunteering tends to increase one’s empathy and altruism and that empathy and altruism are associated with improvements in health.

To test whether this might explain volunteers’ improved health, the researchers also assessed students’ empathy and altruism at the beginning and end of the study. And sure enough, students in the volunteer group with the highest empathy and altruism scores at the end of the study enjoyed the most health benefits. In contrast, students in the non-volunteering group showed no such associations.

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