It’s probably a safe bet that most of us have volunteered our time, talents, sweat, or ideas at least a few times to support a person, group, or cause. Volunteerism seems ingrained in our culture. We frequently help out with school or church activities, or with various community groups to support their many worthwhile efforts.
Although volunteering can require a lot of time and energy, I’ve usually found it enjoyable because I’ve had the satisfaction of working with others toward a positive goal. As a psychologist, I began to wonder if there might be other mental, emotional and physical health benefits from being a volunteer.
As I reviewed some of the research literature, I was quite surprised to find a long list of several potential mental and physical health benefits associated with volunteering. I’ll share a bit of what I found. This brief summary is certainly not comprehensive, and not all of the benefits will apply to everyone. However, it does capture several of the more significant health benefits that appear related to serving as a volunteer.
Potential Health Benefits of Volunteering
- Improved social skills through meeting others, working alongside them
- Reduced isolation and loneliness from interacting with others
- Sense of purpose and making a difference from working toward a shared goal
- Increased self-confidence from learning new skills, meeting new people, achieving a goal
- Improved mood, reduced stress and anxiety
- Increased pleasure and happiness from engaging in a worthwhile activity
- Increased physical activity
- Learning skills that can transfer to the workplace or towards career goals
- Meeting potential employers and gaining a foothold towards future employment
- Decreased pain and lower blood pressure
- Decreased mortality or living longer
I want to say a bit more about the last point in the list. An interesting research study published in 2012 in the Health Psychology journal investigated the relationship between lower mortality and volunteering, a finding which had been previously established. In other words, regular volunteers seem to live longer on average than those who have not served actively as volunteers.
The current study also found this same association between volunteer activity and lower mortality. Specifically, the more the individuals had volunteered over the past year and over the past 10 years, the lower their risk of mortality 4 years later.
However, the fascinating twist discovered in this study was that the lower mortality rate was specifically associated with a motive by the volunteers to help others. When the motive for being a volunteer was more self-oriented, the volunteers actually had a greater risk of mortality 4 years later! In addition, the self-oriented volunteers had the same risk of mortality as non-volunteers, suggesting that volunteering may be of little or no health benefit if one’s motivation is more self-centered.
I think this research is quite intriguing. The bottom line is that volunteering does clearly seem to be associated with a variety of physical and mental health benefits, but more so if you are truly invested in making a difference to help others.
If you’ve not done much volunteering lately, give it a try. Find a cause that you’re passionate about and step up to offer your assistance. There is no shortage of worthy causes who are looking for great volunteers just like you.
Reference: Konrath, S., Fuhrel-Forbis, A., Lou, A., & Brown, S. (2012). Motives for volunteering are associated with mortality risk in older adults. Health Psychology, 31(1), 87–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025226
Here’s a question: What personal benefits have you gotten from being a volunteer? Please leave a comment. Also, please subscribe to my blog and feel free to follow me on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram, “like” my Facebook page, or connect on LinkedIn. Finally, if you enjoyed this post, please share it with a friend.