This groundbreaking and life-changing work based on the latest research effectively demonstrates “the profound impact that love, connection, and kindness have on our health” (Mark Williamson, PhD, director of Action for Happiness).
When Columbia University doctor Kelli Harding began her clinical practice, she never intended to explore the invisible factors behind our health. But then there were the rabbits. In 1978, a seemingly straightforward experiment designed to establish the relationship between high blood cholesterol and heart health in rabbits discovered that kindness—in the form of a particularly nurturing post-doc who pet and spoke to the lab rabbits as she fed them—made the difference between a heart attack and a healthy heart.
As Dr. Kelli Harding reveals in this eye-opening book, the rabbits were just the beginning of a much larger story. Groundbreaking new research shows that love, friendship, community, and our environment can have a greater impact on our health than anything that happens in the doctor’s office. For instance, chronic loneliness can be as unhealthy as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day; napping regularly can decrease one’s risk of heart disease; and people with purpose are less likely to get sick.
At once paradigm-shifting and empowering, The Rabbit Effect illuminates vital public health research showing kindness in our day-to-day lives can make the “world a healthier, happier place. I recommend this book highly for anyone who wants to live more healthfully” (Christy Turlington Burns, and CEO of Every Mother Counts).
“A blending of free-flowing confessional prose and scholarly research . . . Amid the clanging political noise about Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, and thieving pharmaceutical companies, Kelli Harding stands apart from the horde . . .”
“[A]n inspiring guide that will appeal to health enthusiasts fed up with the usual '10-step fitness plan or . . . two-week diet.' . . . Harding’s book will leave readers with much to ponder and . . . an encouraging rationale for treating others more kindly.”
“Readers will be inspired to make these manageable, life-altering changes.”
“[Offering] the kind of do-able and wise solutions that make for a better life, [Dr. Harding] illustrates the deep connections between stress—and the inflammatory response it evokes—and our physical and mental health. . . . She beautifully identifies kindness as an endlessly renewable resource—the light we all can shine on the lives of others and in so doing bathe in its grace ourselves.”
