After years of feeling a bit guilty about not giving blood, I’ve decided to start. I guess it’s seeing the ailing mother in law being given 3 or 4 units a week that has motivated me. And what is a unit?

So, how long after giving it will I feel the effects? The effects in question being a, riding, b, erectile function, c, drinking.

A unit is a pint (that’s nearly an armful) roughly.

Not sure about the effects, but you will notice a drop in biking performance for at least a few days (and if you don’t then you’re not trying hard enough) after giving and the impact on your drinking is likely to be only for a few days until the volume of blood has been made up. The actual blood cells take much longer to make up though.

you will feel a little bit tired and I would advise against anything strenous or intoxicating but that is it. Restful night is all that is required IMHO

A fine and noble thing to do!
Used to go but was a few years back but the collection location moved out of my area,
never felt poorly after and wedding tackle was fine,
u get a biscuit and a cuppa after,
very worthwhile if u can spare an hour

I give blood regularly – AB+

I don’t ride home on the day of donation (tried it, 15 mile ride.. bonked hard after 10 miles, practically crawled the rest of the way). The day after, I’m generally slowish but OK, after that no problems.

Never had any problems getting it up on a donation day – the nurses are a bit rough at my donor centre, so it wasn’t a pressing issue.

Drinking wise, your capacity is greatly reduced – normally takes 7-8 pints to be pissed… on a donation day that is more like 1-2.

HTH
Dave

I go whenever I can, but work travel scuppers me for months on end sometimes due to risk I might give people malaria… joy…

a) next day you will be out of breath but it passes pretty quick
b) never noticed a difference – but I feel a full scientific study might now be in order
c) you’ll feel the effects faster, I usually just wait a day for a beer – but I’ve had a few straight after donating before and not really suffered too badly as a result

I suggest you drink lots of water all day before…

wow, I don’t get anything like those effects. I don’t do anything strenuous on the day of donating, but am fine going hard on the bike the day after, and everything retains full functionality. Apart from the tape pulling at my skin after donating, I don’t notice anything unusual to suggest I don’t have quite as much blood. Maybe if I raced the day after it would be noticeable, but that’s going super extra hard!

A unit is 1 pint (or as close to a pint as they can squeeze out of you), which is roughly 1/8th of your total blood. In theory then, your respiratory efficiency and your tolerance to alcohol will be reduced by 1/8th. Feels like a lot more from experience though. I used to give blood whilst at uni so I could have a cheap night on the booze, and I was generally spangled after a couple of pints. I can normally drink somewhere closer to 5 or 6 without getting wobbly. Takes about 4 days before you will feel normal again, and it’s probably more like 8-10 days before your blood volume is back up.

BigJohn – Member
After years of feeling a bit guilty about not giving blood, I’ve decided to start. I guess it’s seeing the ailing mother in law being given 3 or 4 units a week that has motivated me. And what is a unit?

So, how long after giving it will I feel the effects? The effects in question being a, riding, b, erectile function, c, drinking.
A/ Give it a day max your body will replace the pint very quickly.
B/ No mate not going to happen you d**k does not hold that much….well mine don’t
C/Well I suppose if you went from blood donor centre to the pub you might have to reduce your intake by a pint.

ibis – Member
A fine and noble thing to do!
Used to go but was a few years back but the collection location moved out of my area,
never felt poorly after and wedding tackle was fine,
u get a biscuit and a cuppa after,
very worthwhile if u can spare an hour

Top comment I don’t give anymore as I am a on medication also I was less charitable with my giving as I always had 2 teas and lots and lots of biscuts!

You’ll feel a bit tired, that’s all. By the next day you’ll be pretty much back to normal.

But definitely do it; too many people don’t.

The sense of well-being donating gives is nice.

OK, so that’s booked for next Monday. And at last I’ll find out what my blood group is. I hope the nurses are as hot as I’ve been led to believe.

They demand you answer “how did you hear about us” but there’s no box to tick “Hancock’s Half Hour”.

As mentioned above the biggest thing you’ll notice is just how sticky those pesky plasters are. After a good nights sleep I have run and ridden the following day with very little (ok so a bit but nothing major) after effect. I’ve also managed at least a 5 pint night and not suffered any ill effects.

I do carry a fair amount of blood in this substantial body though, racing whippets beware!