We have all heard and read about blood donation and a some of us are familiar with donating blood, what exactly is blood donation?

Donating blood is defined as the voluntary process of giving blood, that is collected and used in times of need, such as life threatening accidents, surgery and organ transplants, where the patients urgently need to regain the blood that was lost by the body.

It is said that every two seconds, there is someone, around the world, who needs blood. Studies have shown that in India, we need four crore units of blood in a year and only 40 lakh units are present, leading to loss of lives due to insufficient blood available.

Unfortunately, there are many myths regarding blood donation, here are the facts that will help us to understand the benefits of blood donation:

1. It is commonly believed that blood donation can have a negative effect on your immune system, there is no evidence to support this theory, in fact donating blood can protect your body from infections and helps to keep your blood vessels healthy.
2. People think that can get the corona virus from blood donation, this is another myth that is blindly accepted, its not true, one cannot get the virus from a respiratory disease and there have been no cases reported of a spread of the COVID 19 due to blood donation, having said this, it must be noted that major health organizations have issued guidelines for healthy individuals to donate blood while following strictly the Covid 19 safety measures.
3. Another myth is that we should not donate blood more than once a year, this is not true, the body of a healthy person is capable of recovering from the blood donation process and is able to donate blood again, within a time period of approximately two months.
4. It is said that only people who eat certain types of foods can donate blood, the facts show that it does not matter whether you are vegetarian or non vegetarian, all you need to follow is a balanced diet, in order to donate blood.

Blood donation can be beneficial to your health, it helps to understand how blood donation can make a difference to your overall well being:

A) The presence of iron in the body, causes liver disease and infections, donating blood helps to prevent this and enables the liver to function properly.

B) Regular making a blood donation keeps a check on cholesterol levels and helps to keep your weight under control.

C) Before an individual donates blood, he needs to go through a medical checkup and complete the relevant tests, this helps to identify any health issues and do something about it before it becomes worse.

D) Research has shown that donating blood, is a way of helping someone in need and this has a positive effect on your self confidence and mental health.

Despite these health benefits, very few people who are eligible, actually make an effort to donate blood, due to false beliefs, misconceptions and misguided concerns.

Blood donation does not have any adverse effects, there is no risk to your health, in fact, you are saving lives by donating blood.