Benefits of donating blood we need to know

The reason for writing this hub was a situation that I faced at my working place. An email was circulated within my office asking if anyone is willing to donate blood of a particular group. I was surprised to see that people hesitated to donate blood even though most of them had that blood group. This made me do some digging as to why people hesitate to donate blood. The results were quite interesting. I prepared a questionnaire and discussed with 30 resources of my team. Most of them had one single reason for not donating the blood. They felt that they would be weaker and might catch a disease after donation. One of the guys mentioned that he can’t face the needle piercing his body for donating blood. He mentioned that he never had any injection in his life because he is afraid of the needle. One other guy mentioned that he can’t see his own blood coming out through the needle. This made me think that most people are not well aware of the benefits that a donor gets by donating blood. Proper awareness is needed to make them believe that donating blood is a healthy activity. This hub is a little effort in that direction.

The benefits are huge and are applicable in different ways, in addition to having juices and drinks right after the donation. I have tried to list down some of them in two major categories, physical and psychological.

Physical Benefits

Health Check - A health check is made every time a person donates blood, whether to a blood bank or directly to someone in need. This helps him be aware of his health condition free of cost and that too many times in a year. He would be able to notice if anything is wrong with his blood pressure, blood sugar and a lot of other things. As a reward, he gets a free medical examination for himself.

Stabilizing iron level - Donating blood at regular intervals helps regulate the amount of iron in the blood and that as a result reduces the chances of a heart attack. Higher iron concentration in the blood increases the risk of heart disease because it increases the oxidation process in the body. Iron concentration is not the only reason for a heart disease but it is one of the major reasons and donating blood will help decrease this factor by regulating the quantity of iron in blood.

Reducing cancer risk - Regular donation of blood also helps in reducing the risk of cancer in different parts of the body.

Replenish blood - Donation helps the replenishment of the blood supply in the body that helps to regulate different physical activities. The donor’s body takes about 48 hours to replace the blood volume while the red blood cells are replaced in almost four to eight weeks. These activities help the body stay active, healthy and productive. Thus donating blood is a kind of healthy activity to help our own body to be active and efficient. The whole system is refreshed and works better afterwards.

Burn Calories - As the body becomes more productive and active, more calories are burnt easily and any extra fat is dissolved. This improves the overall fitness of the body.

Developing healthy habits - Donating blood is a healthy activity that creates awareness among people to adopt other healthy habits in their lives.

Psychological Benefits

In addition to the physical benefits that a blood donor achieves, there are some psychological benefits as well. These include:

• Everyone in society can donate blood without any difference of creed, social status and location in the world. This is a kind of universal activity. This gives the donor a sense of achievement and he feels satisfied after helping the needy. As I mentioned earlier in one of my articles (why should we help others), helping others gives us an inner feeling of happiness and we feel contented. Blood donation is a good way of attaining that status.
• It enhances a feeling of wellbeing among the elderly people and they feel satisfied with their role in society. They also become a role model for younger generation to help out the society.
• Donating blood saves lives and this creates a sense of integrity within the society. This activity is actually done for our own selves because we might need the same donation at any later stage of our life. This it is a kind of mutual give and take among society members.
• A sense of generosity develops within the society which is beneficial for each and every member of society.

• The feeling of being a life saver is a happy feeling. The donor feels happy and urges for other good deeds as well that could benefit the society.
• If some people feel the pain of the needle too much, they should realize that bearing a little pain for a small period of time can help other people avoid a much severe pain throughout their lives. This should encourage donors to be convinced for the act.
• There is no substitution for blood donation. This activity can only be performed by healthy humans and not machines. A small act of a person actually saves humanity. Just three teaspoons of blood save life of a premature baby. A small help can be a lot here.
• Blood donation is a kind of gift that keeps on giving. Even when you can’t buy an expensive gift for a person, you are still able to help him by donating blood. This is a unique gift of God.

Blood donation is strictly voluntary. No one can be forced for that. If a person agrees go donate blood, it means he is good at heart. People come to know the nature of that person. Thus his social status is improved.