We all know we should be kind to others: our families, our coworkers, neighbours, strangers. Everyone benefits. It turns out, though, the one who benefits the most is probably you. Pablo Casals once said, “The capacity to care is what gives life its most deepest significance.” Indeed, kindness has a big impact on the lives of others, and it makes us feel good. But you may not know how much being kind benefits your mental and physical health as well.
To start, kindness makes our brains happier. A University of California study assigned people to do five random acts of kindness per day for six weeks. At the end of the assignment, their levels of happiness increased by 41.66 percent!
Consider these researched benefits of kindness as well:
- Contributes to the maintenance of good health
- Diminishes the effect of physical and psychological illness
- Releases endorphins, your body’s natural pain killer
- Improves emotional wellbeing
- Changes brain chemistry
- Elevated levels of dopamine, a “Helper’s High”
- Produces oxytocin, which protects your heart and reduces inflammation
- Slows down the aging process
- Improves relationships
Perhaps best of all, kindness is contagious! When we look at kindness through the lens of neuroplasticity, we are reminded that brains get good at what they do. The more we are kind, the easier it is to produce that behaviour in the future. So here are a few suggestions to try:
- Smile more. It makes an impressions of kindness.
- Compliment others more often, and really mean it.
- Look for small opportunities. A few words may seem insignificant, but they’re not. Little things take you far in life.
- When you get up in the morning, pick one person to focus on throughout the day. Make it a different person as often as possible that you shower extra kindness on for the day.
- Be kind to yourself. It’s hard to help others unless you are kind to yourself first.
So, be kind and your brain and body will thank you!