We seem to hear a lot about kindness in the media and whilst we all know it’s good to be kind, this article talks about why this is. You may be surprised by the benefits kindness has been found to bring us!
Dr David Hamilton is a best-selling author, with a passion for how people can harness their minds to improve their health. He has written many books and articles about kindness and it is his work that informs this article.
The Psychological Benefits of Kindness
It is thought that the effects of kindness are linked to how kindness feels. Research has found that kindness actually causes physical changes in the brain; in the same area that is linked to the experience of positive emotion (which itself is linked to many positive outcomes). The kinder and more compassionate we are, the more this area of the brain grows. Studies have shown that people who carry out acts of kindness generally feel happier as a result and also appear to have some protection against depression. Kindness also appears to dampen down stressful experiences and reduces anxiety thereby contributing to resilience. It even helps us to change our negative opinion of someone.
You have the power to spread kindness; studies have shown it is contagious. On average, the person you are kind to, will in turn be kind towards 5 other people. So small acts of kindness can make a big difference.
The Health Benefits of Kindness
It is not possible to separate the body from the brain, there are biochemical responses to events and the feelings associated with them in the brain, which also produce physiological changes. There is a physiological response related to how we feel in any given situation. This is true even for the smallest of events, such as acts of kindness.
An act of kindness generates associated feelings of warmth, affection and connectedness and kindness itself is usually an outcome of feeling compassionate. The feelings generated by kindness produces a hormone, Oxytocin, which is known as the ‘bonding hormone’ and the ‘molecule of kindness’ and it is produced in large quantities when we connect with other people. Moreover, when children feel loved and cared for, they produce more Oxytocin and more Growth Hormone.
Oxytocin is known to have benefits for the cardiovascular and immune systems and can protect muscles from damage. We can benefit from the biological response to kindness if we are the giver or receiver, and perhaps most surprisingly, we can benefit from just observing kindness! There is a phenomenon known as ‘The Mother Teresa Effect’; when people watched a video of Mother Tereasa helping others, the levels of an antibody produced by their immune systems rose by 50%. Again, it all boils down to how watching this event makes you feel, which tends to relate to compassion. Compassion itself has anti-inflammatory effects and studies have found that when a patient senses compassion from their doctor, their rate of recovery from an illness increases by 50%.
A Caveat or Two
Clearly there are many surprising benefits of kindness for givers, receivers and observers. It is best though, if kindness is given without an expectation of receiving something in return and without feeling obligated, as this takes away the feelings the kindness creates therefore reducing the positive benefits.
Although, here I have talked a lot about acts of kindness, it is equally important to think kindly; try not to judge people or have unkind conversations with people in our minds.
What Next?
Think about the potential benefits of harnessing the power of kindness within your classroom…reduced, stress, anxiety, low mood and increased resilience along with improved physical health. It’s a no brainer right? So how can you increase kindness in your classroom?
There’s a Positive Psychology intervention known as Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) and there is even a RAK Day (17th February)! But I think we need RAK days far more often than that! Research has found that carrying out multiple acts of kindness in one day (rather than spreading them throughout the week) to bring about the most positive outcomes. So although we need kindness everyday, why not introduce the idea of a weekly RAK day to your class?
Maybe ask pupils to come up with their own ideas about how they could show someone kindness, then write these down and put them up as a classroom display. Next, on each RAK day ask each child to choose a few things from the display that they will aim to do that day. Here are some ideas to help you to get started:
- Sit next to a child who is on their own.
- Pay someone a compliment.
- Say thank you to someone in school or their parents.
- Offer to help a classmate or the teacher.
- Introduce a new pupil to others.
What ideas can you add to the list?
Oh and why not put a RAK board up in the staff room so everyone can join in and spread the love across the school?!
Sources
Burke.J., Dunne, P.J., Meehan.T., O’Boyle, C.A., & Van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2023). Positive health: 100+ research-based positive psychology and lifestyle medicine tools to enhance your wellbeing. London: Routledge
Hamilton. D.R. (2010). Why kindness is good for you. UK: Hay House
Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing
Produced by Dr Victoria Tyrer-Davies, Principal Educational Psychologist, Flying Colours Educational Psychology Service Ltd.