Few studies have been done on theimpact of generosity on well-being. The latest of its kind came from Canadian researchers. In the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the authors ensured that adolescents who help others for free (in this specific case it was homework help), have better cardiovascular health with an index of body mass and a much better cholesterol level than the others.
This time the information comes from colleagues at the University of Exeter Medical School in the UK. Suzanne Richards’ team analyzed some forty studies carried out not from testimonials but from 9 experimental trials and 16 cohort studies. The conclusions of their compilation, published in the journal BMC Public Health, coincide with those of Canadians: volunteering is good for your health. It would reduce the risk of mortality among volunteers by 20% compared to non-volunteers. The risk of depression would also be reduced while mental well-being and the level of satisfaction would be strengthened.
The researchers remain cautious and say they have yet to find the origin of these apparent benefits linked to volunteering: “Our analysis shows that volunteering is associated with improvements in mental health, but further work is needed to determine whether volunteering in is the cause, concludes Dr. Richards. We don’t really know if the biological and cultural factors generally associated with better health, intervene upstream of the decision to volunteer”. To get to the bottom of it, the researcher encourages as many people as possible to volunteer.
In Europe, the volunteer rate is estimated at 22% of the population. In 2011, France had 16 million volunteers, according to a BVA survey.
