Author: Dr. Barbara Edwards | Princeton, NJ

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Giving Back is Good for Your Health

The health benefits associated with giving and volunteer work have been studied extensively. Everything from lower blood pressure and longer life expectancy has been attributed to those who regularly volunteer.

Here is a list of health benefits associated with giving back:

Higher self-esteem:
Volunteering is a rewarding, and it can make you feel better about yourself by regularly doing a service to the community

Lower stress:
Volunteering offers a sense of escape from the everyday hustle and bustle. Volunteers on average have lower blood pressure, which is often affiliated to low stress levels.

Lower propensity to become depressed:
Being surrounded by others who are all working toward a shared goal has the effect of diminishing loneliness. There are studies that show when a person is less lonely, they are also unlikely to suffer from depression.

Longevity:
A 2012 study showed that those who volunteer, particularly later in life, have a longer life expectancy due to lowered feelings of loneliness and lowered stress levels.

Even financial giving has a positive effect on health. A study from the Journal of Economic Psychology found that increased charitable giving had a positive effect on each participant’s health. It is believed that even charitable giving has a stress relieving effect on the body. Diminished stress is correlated to a strengthened immune system.

 

Dr. Barbara Edwards Princeton enjoys volunteering for so many reasons. Read more about her journey in Malawi at Dr. Barbara Edwards Princeton NJ

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5 Surprise Benefits of Volunteering

Dr. Barbara Edwards (princeton)

If you’re thinking of starting volunteer work but something is holding you back, consider these five surprising benefits that start when you serve others within your community (or read Dr. Barbara Edwards’ (Princeton) experience volunteering in Malawi for inspiration).

1. It can be therapeutic

Connecting with others–even animals–decreases stress hormones. Studies show that interacting with others can help build a stronger support system, which may decrease your likeliness to become depressed.

2. It improves your health

Aside from your mental health, volunteering can have a physical impact on your corporal well-being. According to a 2013 study on older adults, those who chose to volunteer over 200 hours in a year in turn had a 40% less chance of developing high blood pressure than those who did not. A study done in 2011 also showed that individuals who were others-oriented in their motives for volunteering lived longer.

3. It leads to new opportunities

Volunteering can either enable you to learn skills within your field, make connections within your field, or teach you a new transferable skill. Depending on what your passion is, you can achieve all three during your time volunteering. Without the pressure associated with being fired from a job for doing it wrong, you can learn how to use programs for an organization like Photoshop or excel on your own time for a greater good. Additionally, the people you meet while serving the community can create job opportunities one day down the line.

4. It makes you feel like you have more time

A study published in the Harvard Business Review showed evidence to support the idea that those who volunteer feel they have more time. This can happen because of the amount of productive time one spends in a day after volunteering, rather than doing a more passive activity.

5. It can make you a happier person

Volunteering has the effect of building empathy and making you smile more. A 2008 study showed that the more people volunteered, the happier they became. Though it is argued whether humans are altruistic through and through, it is a commonly held sentiment that giving back makes you feel good.

Whatever your reasons are for volunteering, its benefits on yourself and your community cannot be overstated.

 

Dr. Barbara Edwards Princeton is an internist with a passion for volunteering and living your healthiest life.

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How to Find an Organization to Volunteer For

Dr. Barbara Edwards of Princeton, NJ Volunteering in Malawi

Volunteering can be incredibly fulfilling work, and it’s important to find an organization that will enable you to create the impact that you feel is needed in the world. Whether your aim is to solve a problem, give back, be a voice for the voiceless, or learn something new about others, the organization you work with will greatly influence your ability to reach your goal. Following these steps can help you find an organization to volunteer for:

Find your cause & set a goal

We all have something we’re passionate about–that one topic that we can talk about endlessly to whoever will listen. Volunteer work enables you to turn your passion into action. No problem is too big to be tackled by a group of dedicated volunteers, from feeding those in need to climate change. Find more than one organization that deals with a cause you feel passionately about so you can evaluate how you might be able to help. Many organizations have entire sections of their website dedicated to opportunities available.

Setting a goal will help guide your passion into concrete results. Use your strengths to reach this goal; if one of your strengths is in your ability to analyze numbers, you can offer services to track the progress of certain programs to help allocate resources accordingly. This can help reach a goal of making a non-profit work more effectively.

Start local

Smaller, local nonprofits are most in need of money and resources. With a smaller geographical area to serve, there are also fewer individuals in the immediate area to offer their time and volunteer. Explore how organizations near you are working to solve a problem you feel passionately about. Volunteer work done locally is rewarding because immediate results can be felt in a short amount of time. One on one work with members of your community enriches the place you live, strengthening a community bond. It’s easy to find an organization in your community that is working toward solving a problem you may encounter every day.

Decide how much time you’re able to donate

Volunteer work is rewarding, though it can become burdensome if it competes with the amount of time spent doing your paying job. It’s okay to set limits on how much you can give, as it enables you to be at your best every time you show up. Each organization has differing expectations on how much time their volunteers spend with them. You can become a catalyst for volunteer recruitment within your circle of family and friends if you like the organization, but the time commitment is too burdensome. Organizations have a variety of rules when it comes to the amount and type of volunteers they can take on, so it’s important to look into whether or not they require a background check.

Attend an event they’re holding

The best way to see how you might fit into an organization is by seeing it in action. Attend an event planned by the organization to see what their management style is, how large-scale their projects are, and what type of work they may need volunteers for. Events can give you the opportunity to meet the team and feel out how you’d fit in. If it suits you, be candid about your interest in their work and inquire about volunteer opportunities in person.

Explore online resources

Especially if you’re new to an area, utilize online databases to find volunteer opportunities. https://www.volunteermatch.org has a search feature where you can plug in a cause you care about plus your geographic location. https://www.idealist.org will also enable you to search by interest, keyword, or skill.

 

Dr. Barbara Edwards Princeton is an internist with a passion for volunteering and living your healthiest life.

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Dr. Barbara Edwards (Princeton) in Malawi – Friday May 19, 2017

Dr. Barbara Edwards, Princeton

Yesterday we left N’amanghazi Farm and drove to Liwonde National Park about 2 hours away for a safari.  We stayed at Mvoo Wilderness Lodge, which was a lovely resort with a center lodge and chalets along the Shire River in the National Park.  There are tons of hippos in the water as well as Nile Crocodiles.  We went on a late afternoon safari and stopped at the river’s edge for a drink at sunset.  How lovely!  Just our group and the hippos!  We saw gazelles, wart hogs, waterbucks, and lots of birds.  Dinner was great: delicious ham (a nice change from chicken and goat) and yummy vegetables.  Lots of them!  The chalets were lovely with big stone bathrooms and comfy beds under a giant mosquito net.  We were right on the river and could hear the hippos all night.

Today we went on another safari in the morning at 5:30 driving through the rhino preserve.  We did not see any rhinos or elephants but we saw kudus and other animals.  It was like an amusement park ride, going through ditches and tall grasses. Then we returned for a delicious breakfast of eggs and toast and marmalade and fruit salad.  In the afternoon we went on a boat safari on the Shire River.  We saw hippos and crocs and fish eagles and marsh eagles and from very far away – elephants!  It was a beautiful day. After a delicious lunch we drove back up to Balantyre and we stayed in a conference center there overnight.  What a fun day.

Tomorrow we leave for home.  I’m looking forward to seeing my family but I am sad too.  What a fabulous experience this has been.  Both medically and spiritually this has been an adventure and journey that we will not forget.

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Malawi Volunteer JournalDr. Barbara Edwards (Princeton) in Malawi – Wednesday May 17, 2017

Dr. Barbara Edwards (Princeton) in Malawi May 2017

Wednesday was a great, fun, exhausting day. I think we are all a bit tired from everything we’ve already done this week. We never stop moving here but it is always interesting and fun. On Wednesday, most of the group went to visit local primary schools.  We helped to clean the schools by sweeping with the local homemade brooms (made with small branches held together in your hand) and then mopping with old t-shirts on their hands and knees. We went to visit the classrooms where they spoke with the students. The students had lots of questions such as,” What do you eat in America? What do you do for fun? How many languages do you speak? Do you have HIV/AIDS in America? Did you bring a car over with you on the plane?”

While the rest of the group was at the schools, a few of us went to a village to help cook our lunch. We prepared a large community meal for well over 100 people. We cooked outside under the trees over small fires that they built between bricks. They used corncobs, sticks and corn stalks for fuel. We chopped greens, shelled peas and pole beans, and ground nuts (peanuts). We ground up the peanuts with a giant mortar and pestle and added them to the food. We also roasted peanuts and ground that up for the most delicious peanut butter I have ever tasted. We fetched water from the well and carried it back to the cooking area about 200 yards on our heads! We also helped to cook nsima, the local version of cooked cornmeal.  To complement the nsima we made “relishes” that are eaten alongside: mustard greens, pumpkin leaves, and sweet potato leaves cooked with tomatoes and ground nuts, okra, and pigeon peas; and goat cooked with tomatoes. All the food was delicious! We sat on the ground in groups of 3-4 and ate out of shared bowls using our right hand. Yes, we wash our hands beforehand by pouring water from a cup over them. After the meal we all thanked the village and the chief for providing such a wonderful meal for us! We all feel blessed to be here.

After the meal we went to see Triza and gave her grandmother medicine for her cough.  We passed a large funeral for a chief who had hung himself.  No one knows why.  We also stopped at a store that sells chitenges, the large cloths that we wrap around ourselves every day.

Now we are packing up.  I can’t believe that we leave tomorrow for the safari.  I am looking forward to it but I am also sad to leave Zomba and the people of VIP.  They do a lot of good work around here.