Volunteer adolescents have healthier hearts

Feb 26 : Giving back through volunteering is good for the human heart, researchers at the University of British Columbia have found. Researchers from UBC''s Faculty of Education and Department of Psychology wanted to find out how volunteering might impact physical health among adolescents. Hannah Schreier, who conducted the research during her doctoral studies at UBC, said it was encouraging to see how a social intervention to support members of the community also improved the health of adolescents. Researchers split 106 Grade 10 students from an urban Vancouver high school into two groups - a group that volunteered regularly for 10 weeks and a group that was wait-listed for volunteer activities. The researchers measured the students'' body mass index (BMI), inflammation and cholesterol levels before and after the study. They also assessed the students'' self-esteem, mental health, mood, and empathy. Schreier, now a postdoctoral fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, said volunteers who reported the greatest increases in empathy, altruistic behaviour and mental health were the ones who also saw the greatest improvements in their cardiovascular health. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of mortality in Canada and the United States. The first signs of the disease can begin to appear during adolescence. Previous studies show that psychosocial factors, such as stress, depression and wellbeing, play a role in the disease. From : ANI