After a putting on a couple thousand miles on a car, it’s taken into your local mechanic shop (or you do this by yourself) to get a regular oil change. Why do we do this for our car? Over time, heat breaks down the oil and its additives, so eventually it won’t lubricate the engine very well. This is an extremely simplified reason for why a car should get an oil change, however the fact remains that oil is the blood of your car. So what about YOUR personal car? By this, I’m referring to your body!!
Your blood is pretty amazing stuff. Even though it is only about seven to eight percent of your body’s mass, it carries out critical functions such as transporting nutrients and oxygen (via hemoglobin) and also getting rid of waste in our bodies, such as carbon dioxide.
Blood is also composed of over 4000 different types of components, the 4 most popular being red blood cells, platelets, plasma and white cells. So now that you understand why healthy blood is critical, how do we keep it healthy? Similar to the oil change analogy I used, you need to do the same for your body.
Donating Blood
When was the last time you donated ANYTHING? Here’s your chance to make up for it. Donate your blood. If you’ve ever worked in a hospital (I used to volunteer at couple different hospitals) you would see the demand for blood transfusions. When trauma victims are rushed into the hospitals these patients desperately need blood transfusions.
Oddly enough, the most amazing part about donating blood is that there’s probably more of a benefit for you than there is for the recipient. Personally, I think donating or any charitable act of any kind will benefit you more but in this case, at least I can show you why empirically.
The reason why women are less prone to heart disease
First of all, donating blood protects the most important muscle on your body, your heart! Iron accumulates in your body. Iron also does something you have definitely observed if you have ever owned anything that had iron on it – it rusts (oxidizes!). This can results in a host of damage to your cells and tissues. An amazing study that was done in Finland discovered than men who donated blood just once a year had lowered their risk of heart disease by 88%!! By the way, this study included over 2600 men and was conducted for over a year.
I state this fact because there’s a lot of bad science out there, such as studies with a dozen people done for 8 weeks. Randy Roach (author of Muscle, Smoke and Mirrors) once said that he would never take any study seriously unless it has been conducted for more than a year in the least. I agree unequivocally, Randy.
Secondly, did you know that when women reach menopause, their risk heart disease is just as high as a man, in some cases even higher?! Why is this? Women on average, menstruate once every 28 days. That means that they lose a good bit of blood and with it, any excess metals in that blood that may be harmful to the body.
It’s safe, so do it NOW
Donors are screened before the even give blood, in fact you’ll get a mini physician check up prior to giving blood, for free!! All the needles are sterilized and disposed after the donation so you don’t have to worry about catching anyone else’s STD’s. Although some people report a feeling nausea after donating blood, this may surprisingly be due to the fact that they’re not used to seeing their own blood in a big bag! Until next time, happy donating!
References:
http://blog.lef.org/2010/07/health-benefits-from-donating-blood.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1997/09/970901072035.htm
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