Blood donation is a benevolent move, not only could you save other’s life, it could also help your body to generate new blood so you could be healthy. It sounds like a brilliant move, since you could help others and yourself at the same time, who does not want a win-win situation? Especially losing some blood means little to you.

The main reason blood donation is beneficial to you is because it could balance the iron levels in your blood. Iron, which is one of the most important element that is in our blood is certainly beneficial to our body. However, storing too much iron in our blood is not ideal for our body, and it is common among males and postmenopausal women. Hemochromatosis is a condition when body absorbs and stores too much blood. Adequate iron in our blood could keep our immune system running and absorb more oxygen, but excessive iron stores in our liver, heart and other important organs could be toxic. According to a study, among 11065 blood donors, only 6.2 percent of them had abnormalities in blood iron density in liver. Therefore supporting that hemochromatosis could be decrease by donating blood on a suggested frequency. Study had also shown that excessive iron in blood could lead to pro-inflammatory effect.

Smoking, drinking and high-sugar could cause hypercoagulability in blood. Hypercoagulability in blood means blood would gradually clot up and could triggered blood clot, and even strokes. However, study shows that losing blood could enhance the flow in blood therefore help to reduce the coagulation in blood. It also discussed how drawing certain amount of blood from one’s body could help reduce the stroke volume and declot coagulated blood. Research also reveals that a lower percentage of people who are blood donors compare to those who never donate blood before.

With benefits described above, one could suggests that donating blood is beneficial to the donor’s health status. Although there are hypothesis saying that donating blood leads to iron deficiency, the datas they displayed are “poorly defined”. As long as one follow the instruction before donating the blood and not donate with a empty stomach, they will be fine. Fainting in the process of donating blood is normal if it happened not because the lack of iron but the anxiety that cause the shock. Blood donation is an altruistic act, because you get little from doing so. The long term benefit is also beneficial. Researchers had found that among blood donors, there are less life risking diseases. A study suggested that among 2862 subjects, ranging from age 42 to 60, “those who donated blood on a regular basis are less likely to have heart attack than those who never donate blood before. Although it is hard to experiment on whether blood donors live longer or not, it is very likely that they do have a easier life without much disease bothering them.

Donating blood may not be a bad thing as much people think it might be, and it could also help people. When you lose little but help others, why not participate blood donation?