We all know giving blood helps others, but did you know donating blood is also a healthy habit for yourself? Before donating blood, everyone must pass a mini-physical and a medical history examination.

During the physical, your blood pressure, pulse, tempera ture and your hematocrit level (the level of red cells in your blood) are checked. Sometimes physical problems such as high blood pressure are found during a blood donation mini-physical. So donating blood can be a way to keep a check on your own health while helping others.

Preliminary studies also found that heart attacks and other cardiac problems were less common in men who had donated blood compared to men who had not. The two studies involved over 6,500 men and were conducted by the University of Kansas and the University of Kuopio in Finland. Researchers believe by giving blood, men -- and post-menopausal women -- rid their bodies of excessive iron, which is thought to contribute to heart disease.

Included in the study were 3,855 participants in the Nebraska Diet Heart Survey. Subjects were a minimum of 40 years old, with no history of heart disease at the study's outset.

Seven to eight years later, in 1992 or 1993, researchers contacted the group to determine whether any participants had died, donated blood, or experienced cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, chest pain, angioplasty, or bypass. Six hundred fifty five subjects had been blood donors and 3,200 subjects had not donated blood.

Non-smoking men who had donated blood within the last three years of the survey experienced the greatest benefit: a 30% reduced risk of having a heart attack or experiencing other cardiovascular events.

This group of blood donors, non-smoking men, was the only group that appeared to benefit from a reduction in heart disease risk. Women donors and male donors who smoked did not have any difference in cardiac events from non-donors. Participants who donated more frequently than one unit in the three-year period did not benefit from a greater reduction in heart disease risk.

Dr. David G. Meyers, who led the research team, states that pre-menopausal women have a death rate from heart disease that is less than half that of men of the same age.

Estrogen may protect women from heart disease; it is when women stop producing estrogen, as occurs during menopause, that their heart disease risk rises drama tically.

Another explanation for menstruating women's lower heart disease risk is the "iron hypothesis" which suggests that menstruating women have a reduced risk of heart disease due to the loss of iron that accompanies menstruation.

It makes no difference at all!  after donation.   Out of the normal quantity of about 4 to 5 litres of blood that circulated in the body, only about 350 ml of blood is donated which is one eighth of the extra blood in our body.  The donated blood is recuperated in the body within 48 hours of donation..

Any body who  is healthy can donate blood.  There is no male and female discretion in donating the blood.

If you are in agegroup between  18 to 60 in good health U can donate blood

It is advisable that men should  not have donated blood within the past three months. Women should not have donated blood within the past four months.

Woman donor should  not be in their Menses periods.  When you carry a baby, and when you are nursing a baby, blood donation should be avoided.

People undergone major surgeries should wait for atleast six months to donate blood.  People who had small surgery should avoid donating blood within three months.

People with AIDS should completely avoid donating bood in their entire life time.

Aids (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a viral illness that can be transmitted by blood transfusion. Individuals  at a higher risk for acquiring this illness and/or transmitting the virus should not donate blood

After blood is drawn, it is tested for ABO group (bloodtype) Rh type (positive or negative), as well as for any  unexpected Red  Blood Cell antibodies that may cause problems in the   recipient.Screening tests are also performed for evidence of donor   infection with hepatitis viruses B and C, human immunodeficiency  viruses (HIV) 1 and 2, human T-lymphotropic viruses    (HTLV) I and II and syphilis.

You will be asked a few questions about your health, previous blood donation history (if any) and will be given a form to fill up.

All information you provide is confidential and will not be made available to any agency or authority.

You will undergo a medical examination including height, weight, blood pressure and haemoglobin to ensure that you are healthy enough to donate blood.

The equipment used during the process is absolutely sterile and disposed after single use.

You will not develop any disease through blood donation.

It takes about 10 minutes to donate blood - less than the time an average telephone call takes.

If you have any problem please do not hesitate to call the blood bank and talk to the doctor or nurse.