How Donating Blood Benefits You As The Donor

There are a lot of ways donating blood can benefit you, whether it be the mini physical you get before donating, the actual donation itself, or the warm and fuzzy feeling you get from knowing you may have helped save up to three patients’ lives.

Most people don’t realize it, but during the mini physical before your donation you find out a lot of information that you’d normally have to go to a doctor to receive. You get your iron levels checked to ensure you aren’t anemic, and you also have your pulse, your blood pressure, and your temperature checked at the time of donation. Some blood centers even offer to give advanced wellness checks to their donors where they can have their HDL and LDL cholesterol checked and also their triglycerides. Now, if you’ve ever been to the doctor to have blood drawn for tests like these, you know that it can cost a pretty penny. So having the ability to get all of this checked for free just by being a loyal blood donor is quite amazing!

As far as how the actual donation benefits you, there are a lot of ways it can help your body. For example, according to Oneblood.org, blood donors are 88% less likely to suffer a heart attack and 33% less likely to suffer any other cardiovascular event. Also, it helps reduce the level of iron in your system; although, this may sound like a bad thing, by removing the old iron and replacing it with the new, it helps prevent hardening of the arteries, which can lead to a risk of heart disease.

In addition to helping out your own body, you are giving a wonderful gift of life by helping save up to three patients’ lives with a single donation. So the next time you go into your local blood donation center, remember that you are not only benefiting your community, but also benefiting your own health!

Why do you donate blood?