Article by David R. Hamilton PhD
When we think of side-effects the first thing that springs to mind are the side effects of drugs. But who’d have thought that kindness could have side effects too? Well, it does! And positive ones at that.
1) Kindness Makes us Happier
When we do something kind for someone else, we feel good. On a biochemical level, it is believed that the good feeling we get is due to elevated levels of the brain’s natural versions of morphine and heroin, which we know as endogenous opioids. They cause elevated levels of dopamine in the brain and so we get a natural high, often referred to as ‘Helper’s High’.
2) Kindness Gives us Healthier Hearts
Emotional warmth produces the hormone, oxytocin, in the brain and throughout the body. Of recent interest is its significant role in the cardiovascular system. Oxytocin causes the release of a chemical called nitric oxide in blood vessels, which dilates (expands) the blood vessels. This reduces blood pressure and therefore oxytocin is known as a ‘cardioprotective’ hormone because it protects the heart (by lowering blood pressure). The key is that acts kindness can produce oxytocin and therefore kindness can be said to be cardioprotective.
3) Kindness Slows Ageing
Two culprits that speed the process are free radicals and inflammation, but oxytocin also reduces levels of free radicals and inflammation in the cardiovascular system and so slows ageing at source. There have also been suggestions in the scientific journals of the strong link between compassion and the activity of the vagus nerve which, as well as regulating heart rate, controls inflammation levels in the body.
Kindness reduces the emotional distance between two people and so we feel more ‘bonded’. However, it’s actually a genetic thing: we are wired for kindness. With our evolutionary ancestors, the stronger the emotional bonds within groups, the greater were the chances of survival and so ‘kindness genes’ were etched into the human genome.
5) Kindness is Contagious
Studies show that kindness actually creates a ripple effect that spreads outwards to our friends’ friends’ friends – to 3-degrees of separation (- similar to the 'Pay It Forward' idea, which has since been made into a rather smaltzy film with Kevin Spacey). The ‘domino effect’ was recently named in the New England Journal of Medicine report after a recent scientific study showed how an anonymous 28-year-old person walked into a clinic and donated a kidney. It set off a ripple effect where the spouses or other family members of recipients of a kidney donated one of their own too. The ripple effect spanned the length and breadth of the USA, and 10 people received a new kidney as a result.
More information:
Dr David Hamilton's ‘Why Kindness is Good for You’ (Hay House, 2010)
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