One of the most important lessons we can learn about making healthy choices is that it’s not only about eating the right foods or taking a walk every day.
It’s also about bringing a little stability and enjoyment to your life. For many, this is accomplished through volunteering.
Perhaps you have never given volunteering much thought. Your life is crammed with too many obligations and commitments. This is absolutely true for a great number of us; however, to change our feelings of stress and anxiety, we need to find that niche that can help.
According to helpguide.org, an internationally recognized resource for effective self-help choices, volunteering provides benefits to both mental and physical health.
Here are several ways volunteering might be able to help you:
• Volunteering increases self-confidence. Volunteering can provide a healthy boost to your self-confidence, self-esteem and life satisfaction. You are doing good for others and the community, which provides a natural sense of accomplishment.
• A key risk factor for depression is social isolation. Volunteering keeps you in regular contact with others and helps you develop a solid support system to help you when you’re going through challenging times.
• Volunteering helps you stay physically healthy. Studies have found that those who volunteer have a lower mortality rate than those who do not, even when considering factors like the health of the participants. Volunteering has also been shown to lessen symptoms of chronic pain or heart disease.
