Kindness and mental health It helps reduce stress, brings a fresh perspective and deepens friendships. Kindness to ourselves can prevent shame from corroding our sense of identity and help boost our self-esteem. Kindness can even improve feelings of confidence and optimism.
Kindness has been shown to increase self-esteem, empathy and compassion, and improve mood. It can decrease blood pressure and cortisol, a stress hormone, which directly impacts stress levels. People who give of themselves in a balanced way also tend to be healthier and live longer.
Acts of kindness can make the world a happier place for everyone. They can boost feelings of confidence, being in control, happiness and optimism. They may also encourage others to repeat the good deeds they've experienced themselves – contributing to a more positive community.
On an individual level, there's substantial evidence that engaging in kind acts and pro-social behaviours can: boost the giver's happiness, life satisfaction and positive affect. nurture a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life. reduce the risk of some mental illnesses like depression.
“Kindness creates positive social connection, which is known to lower blood pressure, cortisol, and stress,” Harding adds.
People suffering from symptoms of depression or anxiety may help heal themselves by doing good deeds for others, new research shows. The study found that performing acts of kindness led to improvements not seen in two other therapeutic techniques used to treat depression or anxiety.
Being kind boosts serotonin and dopamine, which are neurotransmitters in the brain that give you feelings of satisfaction and well-being and cause the pleasure/reward centers in your brain to light up. Endorphins, which are your body's natural pain killer, also can be released.
Kindness is one of 24 universal character strengths and is within the virtue category of humanity. It involves being generous, caring, and compassionate towards others. It is one of the top five most prevalent character strengths globally. Kindness helps buffer against the negative effects of stress.
Why is kindness important? When we practice kindness either to other people or towards ourselves we can experience positive mental and physical changes through lowering stress levels and increasing the body's production of feel-good hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin.
Kindness reduces stress
“Kind people have decreased levels of cortisol, the stress hormone,” said Nielsen. “People who develop a habit of kindness reduce their levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.
A new analysis of decades of research shows that when we are kind to others, we are healthier and happier. We all know that it's good to be kind to others. Kindness is an important virtue for sustaining relationships, which helps to build a trusting and cooperative society.
The health benefits of positive thinking
Lower rates of depression. Lower levels of distress and pain. Greater resistance to illnesses. Better psychological and physical well-being.
“It is a benevolent and helpful action intentionally directed towards another person, it is motivated by the desire to help another and not to gain explicit reward or to avoid explicit punishment.”
According to Kristen Neff (2007), a psychologist who has spent years researching and studying the benefits of self-compassion, those who are self-compassionate are, “Less likely to be critical of themselves and less likely to be anxious and depressed, which, in turn, leads to greater life satisfaction”.
Being kind can boost your own happiness levels because it increases serotonin and dopamine – the neurotransmitters that create the feeling of satisfaction. Kindness also increases your sense of connection to others.
Kindness plays an important part in showing empathy. When we are kind, we are engaging in that “tuning in phase” where we can pay attention and try to understand someone else's experience or emotions. When we notice and understand, we are compelled to act, and that act often takes the form of kindness.
Engaging in acts of kindness produces endorphins, the brain's natural painkiller! Perpetually kind people have 23% less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age two times slower than the average population! Observing the positive impact of giving on the lives of others can elicit contagious feelings of joy.
By being concerned about others we can build relationships and gain support. By serving others we can be happier about ourselves. Kindness can be more than the right thing to do, it can be a path to success and happiness.
It's that simple. If you think I'm wrong, you're confusing people-pleasing with kindness. People-pleasing is actually a defense mechanism. These defense mechanisms emerge when you feel insecure and fearful.
Research shows that small acts of kindness can have big health benefits and will not only brighten up someone else's life but boost your happiness too.
Neurobiologist Richard Davidson says: "the foundation of a healthy brain is kindness." He explains that kindness requires the ability to think not only about ourselves but also about others. Ultimately, intelligence is defined as "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills."
Regardless of the act, kindness is rooted in these four principles: awareness, unconditionality, non-judgment, and action. First and foremost, in order to be kind, you must be aware of all the various times and opportunities to be kind to others.
A study by Gallup found that the well-being of workers improved from being given a kind word. When shown kindness, it triggers positive emotions and helps people feel more fulfilled and improves self-evaluations. Indeed, many years of research has shown that boosting someone's value confirms their self-worth.
Most people grew up with the old adage: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Best known as the “golden rule”, it simply means you should treat others as you'd like to be treated.