Giving Time Can Give You Time

If you want to feel as if you have more time, try giving it away by volunteering to do things for others, suggests a new U.S. study. (iStock)

From the 16 July 2012 article at Medical News Today

Many people these days feel a sense of “time famine” – never having enough minutes and hours to do everything. We all know that our objective amount of time can’t be increased (there are only 24 hours in a day), but a new study suggests that volunteering our limited time – giving it away – may actually increase our sense of unhurried leisure.

Across four different experiments, researchers found that people’s subjective sense of having time, called ‘time affluence,’ can be increased: compared with wasting time, spending time on oneself, and even gaining a windfall of ‘free’ time, spending time on others increased participants’ feelings of time affluence. …

Related articles

• Volunteering gives you the sense of more free time (scienceblog.com)
• Giving Time Can Give You Time (psychologicalscience.org)
• Giving time can give you time (eurekalert.org)

Want to address local health related issues? Consider finding a volunteer opportunity through VolunteerMatch

Many (most??) of my postings here address problems, concerns, and challenges related to health. However, I am hopeful that while many won’t “go away”, we do have the power to alleviate many of them. One way to be part of these efforts is to volunteer.

Recently I have started to volunteer at the local Area Office on Aging. This agency is wonderfully connected to the community, including outreach efforts. The volunteers here are valued for their skills as customer service, event planning, and document/brochure creation. Mundane tasks as envelope staffing are kept to a minimum. Presently I am assisting in interviewing folks to see what programs they may be eligible for to meet their nutrition and medical needs. It can be a bit exhausting at times, but it is always rewarding.

Do you have the time and/or inclination to address health or social issues in your community? Either a weekly commitment or periodically at events?
Volunteermatch.org is a great place to start.
The advanced search allows you to limit your search by

• Geographical area
• Keywords and skills
• Organization and Preferred Partners (as American Red Cross)
• Thirty (30) Opportunity Interest Areas including Emergency/Safety, Environment, Health & Medicine, Crisis Support, Disaster & Emergency, and Homelessness/Housing
• Age (Great For area) – Kids, Teens, 55+

 

 

Related articles

• Compassion + Caring For Others = Happiness (rainbowinclouds.wordpress.com)
• Want to volunteer? There’s an app for that (goerieblogs.com)