Kindness: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate

Kindness and Mental Health/Happiness

• Current research supports this idea. Science has now shown that devoting resources to others, rather than having more and more for yourself, brings about lasting well-being.
• Kindness has been found by researchers to be the most important predictor of satisfaction and stability in a marriage.
• In one study, many people also reported feeling calmer and less depressed, with increased feelings of self-worth after helping others.
• In a study of people randomly assigned to perform either acts of kindness, acts of novelty, or no acts on a daily basis for 10 days, performing acts of kindness or acts of novelty resulted in an increase in life satisfaction.
• A review of the literature found that performing acts of kindness have a moderate effect on the well-being of the actor.
• A 2010 Harvard Business School survey of happiness in 136 countries found that people who are altruistic—in this case, people who were generous financially, such as with charitable donations—were happiest overall.

Kindness and Physical Health

• About half of participants in one study reported that they feel stronger and more energetic after helping others
• “People who volunteer tend to experience fewer aches and pains.”
• Some studies have found that giving help to others protects overall health twice as much as aspirin protects against heart disease.

Kindness and Longevity

• People 55 and older who volunteer for two or more organizations have an impressive 44% lower likelihood of dying early, and that’s after sifting out every other contributing factor, including physical health, exercise, gender, habits like smoking, marital status and many more.
• “This is a stronger effect than exercising four times a week or going to church.”

 How Does it Work

One theory is these effects are mediated by the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone released at birth, breastfeeding, orgasm, and acts of caring and kindness. It helps with bonding, a sense of ‘in group’, and is occasionally referred to as the ‘love hormone’. Oxytocin also lowers blood pressure, improves overall heart-health, and increases our self-esteem and optimism.

References

https://kindness.org/research/

https://medium.com/kindlab/does-kindness-create-happiness-19126c5883ff

https://www.dartmouth.edu/wellness/emotional/rakhealthfacts.pdf