5 December: International Volunteer Day

Annually International Volunteer Day is celebrated on 5 December. The United Nations (UN) established International Volunteer Day (IVD) in 1985 to celebrate the power and potential of volunteerism.

The 2016 theme for International Volunteer Day is ‘Global Applause’ – to give volunteers applause, a hand, a clap, or a pat on the back. It recognizes volunteers worldwide and all they do in making peace, providing good will, and sustainable development support. Not just UN volunteers, but all volunteers around the world, especially in your local community.

A 2006 Australian study found that the portion of adult Australians who volunteered increased from 24% in 1995 to 41% in 2004, and the number of hours of time volunteered increased by more than 50% during this period. This was one of the highest rates of volunteerism in the world.

A Good Health studyin 2011 indicated that volunteers experience ‘helper’s high’ (a sense of satisfaction), according to MRI brain scans. It seems that ‘focusing on others causes a shift from self-preoccupation to empathy and sympathy that reduces stress-related issues.’ Kindness is also said to stimulate the vagus nerve, which controls the heart rate, therefore reducing blood pressure and inflammation.

Health benefits of philanthropy and volunteering time include: alleviating depression in both the short term and the long term; being more satisfied with life, with a stronger will to live; alleviating anxiety with fewer psychological symptoms; extending the longevity of a person’s life; stimulating the hormone oxytocin, which protects against hardening of the arteries, dilates blood vessels, reduces blood pressure, and helps the heart to regenerate after damage; and general overall happiness.

https://www.unv.org/international-volunteer-day-2016

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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