A Great Way To Heal Your Mind & Body

By Author: Dr. Victor Marchione
Total Articles: 90
Comment this article

feeling a little down or a little isolated? This is a common experience for many. When you find yourself in this type of situation, like most people, you’ll probably visit the doctor and try to make some changes with your diet and/or lifestyle that might ease some of your symptoms.
Many will also turn to medication, but did you know that there is another remedy that you could try that’s good for improving both your mental and physical health? Volunteering has been shown in studies to act as a buffer against stress and illness.
This should come as no surprise. After all, most of us know that family and friends can help ease the symptoms caused by stress and illness. Whenever you increase your social contact and strengthen your network of friends, according to some recent clinical trials, you are literally lowering your chances of suffering from premature death.

Helps You Get Connected
Volunteering can directly help you form interpersonal ties and develop your social networks. Social support is the link between volunteering, life satisfaction and improved health outcomes. While researchers are still ...
... unsure whether healthy people are more likely to volunteer or whether volunteering provides health benefits, poor health was indicated as a barrier to volunteering by only 22% of Canadian non-volunteers who were recently surveyed in the National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NGSVP).2

Positively Affects Thoughts & Behavior
When you engage in social participation, you not only enhance the support available to other people, but you also promote your own health by positively affecting your thoughts, emotions and behavior. Helping other people feels good, which can help you feel better about yourself.

Improves Self-esteem
Volunteering provides you with an opportunity to learn new skills. This can lead to better employability if you’re still earning a living through the workforce. Even if you are retired, learning new skills through volunteering could lead to an interesting part-time job that could boost your income. All this learning and connecting with new people and resources will improve your self-esteem, too. Your confidence will improve as you cope with any situations that arise while volunteering. Your sense of confidence, self-esteem and belief in your abilities can have a huge impact on how you deal with any illness that comes along.

Could Lower Blood Pressure
Believe it or not, improved self-esteem and confidence can help reduce blood pressure and improve immune function. How you feel has an impact on your physical health over the long term.
Often, we get stuck in a sort of small sphere of existence. We take on one role, and everyone identifies us in that role. Sometimes, our roles can become less than life-enhancing. When we deal with chronic health problems, for example, we might inadvertently be assigned the role of “invalid.” Volunteering helps break down those narrow definitions of our roles in life.
The more you participate in multiple roles, the more you enhance your health and longevity. For example, being a worker, husband, father, friend and club member will keep your life more open and give you a greater sense of your worth and personal strength.

sign up for the Doctors Health Press e-Bulletin. Visit:
http://www.doctorshealthpress.com/
100% Free Sign Up Online Now For NEWSLETTER
Visit:
http://www.doctorshealthpress.com/ads/dhpart/