Donating blood is a great way to help others. Donated blood is used (as whole blood or as just the red blood cells, or just the plasma, or just the platelets) to save lives. In some instances, like trauma and major surgery, transfusing blood is the ONLY way to keep a person alive. There is no way to manufacture blood and so modern healthcare relies on donated blood. In general terms donating blood is a selfless act that benefits others (often unknown others), even at some “cost” (time, the needles, etc.) to the donor. But are there not some actual health & wellness benefits for the donor?

Free Health screening. Every blood donor goes through some simple but important health checks before donating. These typically include blood pressure, cholesterol, Iron levels, and HIV-status. Each of these is a valuable health-check. And when you donate blood these checks are free. In most cases you’ll also be able to discuss the results with an experienced professional nurse.

Healthier heart. There is some evidence to suggest that blood donation may help to thin the blood, making clots and blockages less likely (blood clots and blockages are what causes heart attacks and strokes). This appears to be especially true for men (the theory being that women who menstruate get a similar benefit from menstruating). The evidence is not conclusive at this stage but there may be a real benefit here.

Good positive feelings. Blood donation remains an essentially selfless act. It is well known that selfless community-orientated behaviours lead to more positive mental health and a greater sense of general wellbeing. This has been widely studied and the evidence/research is compelling. It might be argued that donating blood in order to feel better, in a deliberate and calculated manner, might be somewhat “cynical”, or some such notion. But still, the benefit is there and it is real (and we are sure that most donors are not actually so cynical in this sense).

So there you have it. It is a wonderful thing to do and it could well save lives. But it may also be good for you. A win-win perhaps!

Written by Dr Colin Burns