Health benefits of kindness

In a new book (packed with solid research and data), called “The Rabbit Effect,” Dr. Kelli Harding, a former emergency room psychiatrist at New YorkPresbyterian hospital, explores the power of kindness and its importance in achieving health, both individually and as a nation. It is called “The Rabbit Effect” because rabbits fed a high-fat diet that are talked to, picked up and cuddled were found to have 60% fewer artery-blocking deposits in their blood vessels than rabbits fed the same diet without being shown kindness.

Generosity, empathy, selflessness, friendship, love and volunteering to help others: All these qualities promote robust good health by reducing stress, increasing happiness (all those good hormones, like oxytocin, that surge around your body) and easing inflammation. Clearly, to paraphrase Otis Redding, it’s time to “Try a Little Kindness — and Tenderness!”

A study out of University of California, Berkeley found that when people 65 and older volunteered for two or more organizations they had a 44% lower likelihood of dying over the time of the study. That means that volunteering is nearly as beneficial to your health as quitting smoking! The more you reach out to help others — that’s kindness — the less lonely, happier, healthier and more energetic you and they will be!

The 80-year Harvard Study of Adult Development (all men) found that it wasn’t the guys’ cholesterol levels at age 50 that predicted how long they would live or how they would grow old, it was how satisfied the guys were with their relationships that made the difference. Empathy and attachment were the powerful predictors of continuing health.

But gestures of kindness don’t have to be grand. Particularly enhancing to your health are random acts of kindness, like holding a door open for someone or, conversely, having someone offer you a seat on the bus.