voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
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Give and Rewire: Our Brains on Volunteering
Created: 29/05/2026
News/Events Category: Volunteering
Volunteer Airdie have shared a blog post written by Kristy McConnell, Registered Psychologist, Founder of Off the Beaten Path Psychology & Wellness about the effects of volunteering on the brain.
She says "In the late 1980s, researcher Allan Luks surveyed thousands of regular volunteers and coined the term "helper's high" to describe the warm, slightly euphoric feeling people reported after giving their time. The neuroscience has since caught up. Prosocial behaviour, the fancy phrase for doing kind things for others, activates the same reward circuitry as food, connection, and exercise. Oxytocin rises, cortisol drops, and the nervous system settles. In plain terms, helping sort donations on a Saturday morning is doing something kind for your brain while you're doing something kind for your neighbours."
Read more about this and the longer term impacts of volunteering.
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