So here are some interesting and alarming facts about donating blood that may make you more keen to donate blood:
1. Donating blood is good for the heart:
Blood flow and blood volume are integral to keeping the heart beating. If your blood is thick in consistency, it will be resistant to flow and will flow like molasses. According to Blood Flow Online, donating blood regularly can help to reduce how thick and sticky your blood is, thus allowing blood to flow more easily through the blood vessels and reach the heart faster.
2. It lowers your risk of cancer:
Healthy adults usually have about 5 grams of iron in their bodies, mostly in red blood cells. When you donate a unit of blood, you lose about a quarter of a gram of iron, which gets replenished from the food you eat later. Iron, one of the main minerals found in blood, has been known to increase the amount of free-radical damage in the body. A study found that donating blood helps reduce iron levels, thus reducing the overall individual cancer risk.
3. Burns Calories:
Although this should not be the sole factor which majorly motivates one to get out there and donate blood, it is a known fact that an individual can burn about 650 calories per donation of one pint of blood —that's even more than what you burn in a 30-minute run!
4. Can uncover potential health problems:
Before proceeding with donating blood, one usually has to always go through a quick physical test that measures your temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and hemoglobin levels. While it isn’t the same thing as a trip to the doctor, donating blood can be another way to keep an eye on your cardiovascular health or to shed light on issues that you didn’t even know you had.
5. The joy of doing something for the benefit of someone else:
Doing good for others is one way to live a longer life. A study in Health Psychology found that people who volunteered for altruistic reasons had a significantly reduced risk of mortality than those who volunteered for themselves alone. The blood you donate is divided into various components (like plasma, red blood cells, and platelets) according to the needs of patients and each component can be used by different recipients for various purposes. Every time you donate blood, you can help up to 3 or 4 individual recipients.
Thus, donating blood is good for you and it’s even better for all the people whose whole entire lives depend on blood. So stay healthy and pass on the message to motivate others!