Each year, Thousands of people rely on receiving Donated blood and blood products to stay alive. Certain injuries and illnesses can quickly cause a person’s blood levels to drop. Without enough blood, they will not receive enough oxygen in their body, resulting in death. Many hospitals and medical centers utilize donated blood to save the lives of their patients.
A Blood Transfusion can be a life saving treatment for patients with cancer, patients undergoing surgery, children with severeanaemia, women who have complications with their pregnancy, and accident victims.
If you’re still in two minds about whether you should donate blood, consider that doing so not only helps others, you are doing something for your health.
How much and how often
By law, you may only donate about 480 ml. of blood every 56 days, to ensure that you’ve had enough time to replenish the red cells from your last donation.
The body replaces all of its lost blood volume within 48 hours after donating blood; the replenishment of red blood cells takes a little more time, about four to eight weeks worth.
Though the waiting period may be a bit long, the altruistic feeling of donating blood every two to three months can often be reward enough to make the wait and donation worthwhile.
Additionally, the positive feelings associated with blood donation have been shown to improve both emotional and physical health.
Why I am a Blood Donor
According to Studies Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, blood donors are 33 percent less likely to suffer a cardiovascular disease and 88 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack. The two main theories researchers why blood donors have lower health risks:
The first theory is that people who wish to donate blood are already healthy. A blood donor must be deemed healthy before donating blood.
In order to determine this, a series of free physicals are performed on the donor to verify the donor’s health status. As a result, approved blood donors are already less likely to suffer health and cardiovascular diseases.
The second theory is that the lowered health risks have to do with iron depletion. Iron has a significant impact on the body.
High Blood iron can cause a variety of symptoms, such as irregular heartbeats, lethargy, muscle weakness, hardening of arteries, accelerated cholesterol oxidation, decreased libido and enlarged liver, to name a few.
When Donating Blood, you are removing 225 to 250 mg of iron from your body; therefore reducing your risks of health complications.
In fact, a four-and-a-half-year study found that those who donated blood biannually had reduced their risk of cancer and mortality compared to those who didn’t, simply because of decreased iron levels.
More South Africans are urged to donate blood
Blood donation has also been found to help those wishing to lose weight. A person who donates blood burns about 650 calories with every pint donated, as the body has to work to replenish itself.
Though there are many benefits to donating blood just one time, the people who benefit most from blood donations are regular donors. According to a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, researchers found that those between the ages of 43 and 61 had fewer heart attacks and strokes when they had donated blood every six months.
Another study Blood Donation is associated with lower risks of cancer diagnosis; risk levels of being diagnosed with any type of cancer decreased in correlation with how often donors donated blood.
Benefits of Donating Blood
The donated blood will be stored in a blood bank for future use or can be used for immediate use instantly after screening for the presence of the diseases and other problems. Some of the benefits of donating the blood are as follows:
Chance to Save the Human Lives:
It is immensely an amazing feeling to be able to assist the doctors to save the lives of the humans. It has been found that there are no alternatives to human blood. The donated blood is divided into many components based on the needs of the needy patients. Each of them are used by unique recipients for different purposes. The newly born babies can benefit from one blood donor because the requirements needed by them are only meagre. A single instance of the blood donation will be able to save about five people.
Free Medical Check-up:
The donors can donate blood only if they are fit enough. Before the process of every blood donation, a line of health check-ups are performed on the donor for free. This greatly benefits them. For instance, they will come to know about the presence of any abnormalities in blood pressure. This helps them to diagnose the diseases at the early stage before they form medical complications. After the blood donation, the blood is tested for some infections. The people will be informed if any abnormality is found in those tests. The people who donate their blood frequent can enjoy a good health check-up for free which can help to stay updated.
Eliminating the Heart Diseases:
In the males, the frequent blood donations will help to maintain the iron levels in the body in perfect control. This also reduces the heart disease. The iron is a much needed element for the functioning of the body. But the excessive buildup of iron will result in oxidative damage that is the real culprit responsible for the increased ageing, cardiac attacks and heart strokes etc.
Donating the blood will be the other method to have an eye on the cardiovascular health. The pulse rate will be checked, blood pressure monitored, body temperature will be checked, the amount of the hemoglobin will also be diagnosed and much more will be done. This will even shed some light on some of the problems in the body that the people have no thought about.
The frequent check up of the quality of the blood can be the way to diagnose any health problem before it becomes threatening to life.
Burning of Calories :
A single blood donation will help to reduce 660 Kcal. It will help the people to control the weight of the body. Moreover, the blood will be donated safely once in three months and not beyond that often. This will also rely on the condition of the health and the amounts of the levels of the hemoglobin and iron in the blood.
Reducing the Cancer:
The increased amounts of iron have resulted in cancer. The scientists are of the opinion that the blood donation will often reduce the cancers growing in the body. But the research is still being conducted to collect the evidences to support this. There is an age old myth that blood donation will result in cancers but the advancements in science has pushed it to the grave.
Phlebotomy has been proved to be a method to reduce the iron reduction that is linked with the decreased risk of cancer. The research also concentrated on the patients who were affected by the peripheral arterial disease which is the common problem of the circulatory system. The patients who are regularly in the habit of donating the blood will have a reduced risk of being affected by the cancer than the people who do not.
Formation of New Blood Cells:
After blood donation, the body will work to restore the loss of blood. This will help to trigger the formation of new blood cells which will help to maintain good health. The level of the hemoglobin and the other types of the blood cells will be also formed instantly. The blood that was formally thick will be coagulated and will circulate to all the parts of the body with ease. This will help in the overall development of the body. Therefore the people must be encouraged to donate their blood on a large scale.
Weight Reduction:
The process of the regular blood donation will only decrease the weight of the donors. It is particularly beneficial to the people who are fat and are at an increased risk of developing the problems of cardiovascular diseases. But, the blood donation must not be very often. So it is good to consult the doctor before donating the blood to refrain from any scruples. The fats will be eliminated and this will give a fresh new lease of life to the people.
Aejaz Iqbal Microbiologist, can be reached at aijazsmile@gmail.com
