Health & Medicine
Voluntary Activity Lowers Risk of Hypertension by 40 Percent in Older Adults
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Jun 14, 2013 08:16 AM EDT
The famous quote 'Help yourself by helping others' may be applicable in the field of medicine as well. A new study states that older adults who volunteer for at least 200 hours per year lower the risk of hypertension or high blood pressure by nearly 40 percent.
According to the new finding, volunteer work proves to be an effective non-pharmaceutical way to avoid hypertension, which affects nearly 65 million Americans and is a driving factor for various cardiovascular diseases.
In most of cases, a negative lifestyle like poor diet and lack of exercise is responsible for an increased risk of hypertension. So in the new study, researchers wanted to check whether the risk of the disease gets lowered with a positive lifestyle factor such as volunteer work, said Rodlescia S. Sneed, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
To proceed with the study, researchers conducted a study on 1,164 adults belonging to the age group of 51-91. These participants were interviewed twice in 2006 and 2010. When they were being interviewed for the first time, they had normal blood pressure. Each time, the researchers measured the social and psychological factors along with volunteerism.
They noticed that those who spent at least 20 hours of volunteer work during the first interview were 40 percent less likely to develop the risk of suffering from hypertension when compared to those who didn't volunteer when they were being interviewed initially. The kind of volunteer activity was not a factor, but what counted was the amount of time spent in the activity that led to a lower risk of hypertension.
"As people get older, social transitions like retirement, bereavement and the departure of children from the home often leave older adults with fewer natural opportunities for social interaction," Sneed, lead author of the study, said in a press statement. "Participating in volunteer activities may provide older adults with social connections that they might not have otherwise. There is strong evidence that having good social connections promotes healthy aging and reduces risk for a number of negative health outcomes."
The study was published in the journal American Psychological Associations Psychology and Aging.
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First Posted: Jun 14, 2013 08:16 AM EDT
The famous quote 'Help yourself by helping others' may be applicable in the field of medicine as well. A new study states that older adults who volunteer for at least 200 hours per year lower the risk of hypertension or high blood pressure by nearly 40 percent.
According to the new finding, volunteer work proves to be an effective non-pharmaceutical way to avoid hypertension, which affects nearly 65 million Americans and is a driving factor for various cardiovascular diseases.
In most of cases, a negative lifestyle like poor diet and lack of exercise is responsible for an increased risk of hypertension. So in the new study, researchers wanted to check whether the risk of the disease gets lowered with a positive lifestyle factor such as volunteer work, said Rodlescia S. Sneed, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
To proceed with the study, researchers conducted a study on 1,164 adults belonging to the age group of 51-91. These participants were interviewed twice in 2006 and 2010. When they were being interviewed for the first time, they had normal blood pressure. Each time, the researchers measured the social and psychological factors along with volunteerism.
They noticed that those who spent at least 20 hours of volunteer work during the first interview were 40 percent less likely to develop the risk of suffering from hypertension when compared to those who didn't volunteer when they were being interviewed initially. The kind of volunteer activity was not a factor, but what counted was the amount of time spent in the activity that led to a lower risk of hypertension.
"As people get older, social transitions like retirement, bereavement and the departure of children from the home often leave older adults with fewer natural opportunities for social interaction," Sneed, lead author of the study, said in a press statement. "Participating in volunteer activities may provide older adults with social connections that they might not have otherwise. There is strong evidence that having good social connections promotes healthy aging and reduces risk for a number of negative health outcomes."
The study was published in the journal American Psychological Associations Psychology and Aging.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone