Volunteering Could Reduce Hypertension Risk

As it turns out, volunteering could provide more than personal satisfaction and perks to the community. The benefits of volunteering are much more personal, according to research from Carnegie Mellon University (“CMU”). The results show that the older adults studied who volunteered at least 200 hours per year decreased their risk of hypertension, or high blood pressure, by 40%.

The study, published by the American Psychological Association’s Psychology and Aging® journal, suggests that volunteer work may be an effective way to reduce dependency on medications. Hypertension affects an estimated 65 million Americans and is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. Six million Canadian adults, or one in five, have hypertension.

For the study, Rodlescia S. Sneed, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology in CMU’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and lead author of the study, and Carnegie Mellon’s Sheldon Cohen, studied 1,164 adults between ages 51 and 91 from across the U.S. The participants were interviewed twice, in 2006 and 2010, and all had normal blood pressure levels at the first interview. Volunteerism, various social and psychological factors, and blood pressure were measured each time.

The results showed that those who reported volunteering at least 200 hours per year during the initial interview were 40% less likely to develop hypertension than those who did not volunteer when evaluated four years later. The amount of time spent volunteering – and not the specific type of volunteer activity – appeared to be the primary factor that led to increased protection from hypertension.

“Participating in volunteer activities may provide older adults with social connections that they might not have otherwise,” Sneed said. “There is strong evidence that having good social connections promotes healthy aging and reduces risk for a number of negative health outcomes.”