The Healing Power of Kindness

Contagious toxins and their capacity to spread from a single person to millions at incredible speeds has become a reality in our lives today. We seldom think of the transmission of an infectious trait as a positive event, and yet there is scientific proof that there are beneficial contagious agents in the world, too. This week we will learn about the healing (and contagious) powers of kindness, the benefits it provides, and how we can all become “spreaders” of this infectious healing agent to have a positive impact on one person, our community, and possibly even the world.

The news is filled with stories about hero healthcare workers who perform acts of kindness above and beyond their call of duty. They go the extra mile in order to comfort patients’ fears, connect family members by phone and video, bring moments of joy with positive stories, put on a happy face in trying times, and deliver messages of encouragement and inspiration. We also hear how much these acts mean to patients who are isolated from friends and family, how these essential workers have helped them to heal, through kindnesses that exceed the realm of “medical intervention.” But are these actions actually beyond the scope of medication, life-saving devices, and medical procedures?

Recently, extensive scientific studies have been conducted to find out what conditions may explain why similar patients, with like illnesses, symptoms, and medical interventions, heal differently. In researching the possibilities, perceptions about bedside manner and care-giver compassion were included in the data collected. The results showed that kindness seems to be a Super Power when it comes to healing.

There is a wide variety of definitions of kindness, and years of speculation as to its exact influence on the healing process. But there is little doubt about the belief that kindness heals. How would you define kindness?

Many people have tried to capture the meaning and significance of kindness. It seems to be impossible to describe the full power and impact of an act of kindness with one simple definition. The true characterization is probably a combination of many. Here are just a few beautiful examples of what acts of kindness means to others:

· Kindness is purposeful, voluntary action undertaken with sensitivity to the needs or desires of another person and actively directed toward fostering their well-being. (Dignity)

· Kindness is language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

~ Mark Twain

· Kindness means a behavioral response of compassion and actions that are selfless; or a mindset that places compassion for others before one’s own interests. (Sreenivasan 2017)

· Kindness is a habit of giving—of wanting to lift burdens from others or to merely provide a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on. It humanizes us; it lifts us spiritually. And it is good for us. (Sreenivasan 2017)

· Kindness bites its tongue. It does not seek to be right but to preserve peace of mind. (Fahkry 2017)

· Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind. ~Henry James

· Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, a look, a touch. It is anything that lifts another person. ~Plato

· The smallest act of kindness is worth more that the greatest intention. ~Kahlil Gibran

· Every act of kindness is a healthy one, for both giver and receiver. It‘s a scientific fact. (The Science of Kindness)

· Kindness is just about the only thing in the world that doubles when you share it. (The Science of Kindness)

· Kindness is contagious (Kindness Boomerang)

The Healing Power of Kindness (LITEREATURE REVIEW)

An extensive scientific literature review was conducted by the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University. The results were compiled and summarized in an article by Dignity Health citing the collection of scientific evidence that supports the theory that kindness holds the power to heal. A complete list of the 42 different studies referenced in the following section can be accessed here: Studies Cited. The review demonstrated the following 5 significant benefits of acts of kindness and compassion:

1. Pain Reduction

Physicians who reassure patients about pain²⁷ reduce the level of pain and medication needed. When patients feel heard, they have less pain and feel better about their care.⁷ Patients experience less pain, less severe symptoms and greater health improvement when treated by practitioners who were warm, listened actively, and expressed compassion. ^{28, 17, 29, 12.} Better communication and listening have a positive influence on pain control and management.¹⁷

2. Lower Blood Pressure

Feeling validated by another, lowers blood pressure and supports physiological and psychological well-being.^{18, 19, 20} Positive relationships calms cardiovascular reactivity.¹⁹ When a compassionate person observes someone in distress, that person’s blood pressure rises as well,^{20, 21} and calm reassurance lowers blood pressure and calms. ^{22, 23} A warm touch increases feel-good hormones and decreases blood pressure. ^{24, 25} Trust for caregivers and empathy from caregivers are important aspects of treatment and healing.²⁶

3. Faster Healing

Active listening and empathy help patients feel heard and valued, promotes better conversations about treatment options, helps patients become more involved in decisions about their care, ^{7, 8, 9, 10} and offer more information which leads to better diagnosis and treatment that speeds healing. ^{11, 12} When patients experiencing pain were given a more supportive relationship with a doctor who listened, they experienced improvement in their symptoms.¹³ Trauma patients who feel heard by their surgeons heal faster.¹⁴ When doctors listen, patients feel less stress, which leads to lower cortisol levels and faster healing of wounds.^{15, 16} Listening with empathy contributes to better physical and emotional health of patients.¹⁷ (Dignity)

4. Better Immune System

Upper respiratory infection is the most common diagnosis in emergency rooms. Patients who feel doctors listen, are empathic, understanding, and compassionate, experience shorter duration and less severe symptoms from respiratory problems.¹ Patients who feel their physicians are highly compassionate showed significantly improved biomarkers of immune response to virus. ^{2, 3} Positive emotions, social connections, and experiences of compassion improves gene expression related to immune response and bolsters key immune system proteins. ^{5, 6}

5. Stress Management

Patients they feel less anxiety and stress when treated with compassionate communication and empathy from a caregiver³⁰; and their bodies respond in ways that help them feel calmer and heal faster. ^{31, 32} Compassionate connections, make patients feel better emotionally, and show lower stress markers such as cortisol levels.^{15, 33} Doctors who take the time to listen, connect, and reassure patients, reduce patient stress by helping them to feel more in control of their treatment and their symptoms, and increase their confidence to take better care of themselves. ³⁴

This scientific literature review shows that delivering health care with kindness leads to faster healing, reduced pain, increased immune function, lowered blood pressure, and decreased anxiety. (Dignity)

Other studies demonstrate that kindness has a statistically significant impact on physical health in the following ways:

• The positive effect of kindness is even greater than that of taking aspirin to reduce the risk of a heart attack or the influence of smoking on male mortality. And it doesn't require drugs. (Doty 2017)

• Kindness has many benefits including increased happiness and a healthy heart. It slows the aging process and improves relationships and connections, which indirectly boosts health. (Fahkry, 2017)

• Kindness can release neurochemicals (endorphins) that result in a sense of well-being, or “helper’s high.” Neural circuits that are involved in chemical “highs” (mesolimbic pathway) are the same ones activated by kindness and compassion.(Luks 2001)

• Kindness, for the recipient, can forward the will to live in depressed individuals who feel isolated and different. (Sreenivasan 2017)

• Compassion and kindness reduce stress, boosts the immune system, and help reduce negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, and depression. (Sreenivasan 2017)

Health care professionals who study medicine believe in the value of a kind, compassionate bedside manner. But now, this belief is sound science. Acts of kindness have long been recognized as an important part of the healing process. It has been in the Hippocratic Oath since 275 AD:

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. Hippocratic Oath (NOVA).

Kindness produces positive benefits in the brain. Not only in the brain of the recipient, but in that of the giver, and even in the brains of casual by-standers of kind acts. Infectious empathy may just be another super power of kindness. Science has found both neurological and physiological benefits of kindness.

Mirror neurons - Scientists have discovered something remarkable in the brain called mirror neurons. These are neurons that fire in our brain when we are feeling empathy or a strong connectedness to another person, especially when observing an emotional situation (painful as well as joyful experiences). For instance, when someone is experiencing pain, certain neurons light up in their brain. Scientists are able to capture the neuronal reactions in both an observer and the person in pain and confirm confirm that the same neurons are firing in both brains. Our brain is experiencing (on the neural level) another’s pain. The discovery of these mirror neurons seems to indicate that the brain is wired to identify with the feelings and needs of other people. Beneficial chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin, are also being produced in the brains of participants and observers who are moved by an emotional experience. Likewise, simply witnessing others being kind can release the same feel good chemicals that engaging in an act of kindness can produce. (Sreenivasan)

Being Kind is Good for You

Studies using blood tests, MRIs and CAT scans confirm that the healing powers of kindness benefit the giver, as well as the receiver (Luks 2001)(McMullen 2014) (Pearsall 1999). Being kind produces feel-good hormones, like;

• Serotonin, that calms you down, heals wounds, and makes you happy.

• Endorphins, that kill pain 3 times better than morphine.

• Oxytocin, that promotes social bonding, exerts a calming effect, increases trust and generosity, strengthens the immune system and boosts virility.

Blood tests show (Luks 2001) that compassionate people also have;

• 2 times the amount of natural DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone), which slows down the aging process, and

• 23% less cortisol, the stress hormone.

Other health benefits of kindness (McMullen 2014) (Pearsall 1999) include;

• Decrease in health-related problems including depression, stress, eating disorders and ulcers..

• Increases social contact, which is beneficial to emotional health.

• Enhanced feelings of joyfulness, emotional resilience and vigor.

• Decrease in intensity and awareness of physical pain.

• Increased sense of self-worth, greater happiness and optimism.

• Immune and healing benefits.

• Heightened sense of well being.

• Increased longevity.

• Weight control.

• Healthier cardiovascular system (decreased blood pressure, increased circulation).

• Decrease in stomach acid.

• Speedier recovery from surgery.

Studies show that the vagus nerve can be activated and strengthened by practicing acts of compassion and kindness (DiSalvo 2009). A stronger vagus nerve is able to respond to pain and stressful situations more effectively.

Sympathetic nerves from the spine produce stress-activity in times of emergency, pain, or heightened stress and send messages from affected areas in the body to the brain through the vagus nerve, letting it know that pain, anxiety, and/or stress are present. A strong parasympathetic vagus nerve system is able to react to, calm, or shut off the stress messages, producing warm feelings in the chest, stimulating the vocal channel which enables communication, and reducing the heart rate which increases relaxation, and calms affected areas. The brain sends messages to the organs through the vagus nerve, letting it know when pain, anxiety, and/or stress have been relieved, so the brain and organs can relax and experience less pain, inflammation or discomfort.

In response to vagal activity, the body also releases oxytocin through the blood, a hormone that assists with social bonding and promotes empathy. An active vagus nerve is associated with greater closeness to others and altruism, such as compassion, gratitude, love and happiness. (Szalavitz, 2013) And practicing compassion, gratitude, love and happiness, in turn, strengthens the vagus nerve. (DiSalvo 2009).

Kindness is Contagious

The mirror neurons we learned about above, work in another way too. By performing acts of kindness, we influence others to be kind (as their mirror neurons begin firing and triggering altruism and compassion), and this produces an endless chain of effects, a circle of kindness. (Archon)

Watch this short film that illustrates how small acts of kindness can make a big positive difference in the way we relate to each other. It also demonstrates the contagious power of kindness. (Archon)

Kindness promotes empathy, compassion, connectedness, and healing. When we feel connected with others, we lessen alienation and enhance the sense that we are more similar than dissimilar. Feeling connected brings us together rather than divides us. Kindness releases positivity - we feel better and the recipients of our acts feel better, which makes them more likely to be kind to other people.

Look for opportunities to be kind, and then reflect on your acts of kindness – it’s good for your health and the health of others. One small act of kindness can release a chain of positive events. Kindness is contagious and something we can all pass on and spread to others. Use your actions to change the world!

All semester we’ve been learning about the power of neuroplasticity and how we can use our minds to change our brains (and our lives), so this last quote should resonate with all of us: “Kindness is only a thought away. It starts with our thoughts and [when acted upon] has a ripple effect in our life and the lives of others.” (Fahkry, 2016). Use your mind to change your brain!

We learned about the healing power of kindness, how kindness is able to heal, and about the ways our choices and our actions can affect others, as well as ourselves. We learned how our actions (and mirror neurons) can affect others in positive ways without our even knowing we’re doing it. We learned that there are some infectious traits that are worth sharing. And we learned that we can use our brains to change our habits, and in turn, change the world.

Archon, Sofo, The Unbounded Spirit, The Healing Power of Kindness: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Make a Big Difference, Retrieved from: https://theunboundedspirit.com/the-healing-power-of-kindness-how-small-acts-of-kindness-can-make-a-big-difference/

DiSalvo, D. (February 2009). Forget Survival of the Fittest: It is Kindness that Counts. Retrieved from Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kindness-emotions-psychology/

Dignity Health Website, The Healing Power of Kindness, Retrieved from www.dignityhealth.org/hello-humankindness/power-of-compassion/the-healing-power-of-kindness

Doty, James, MD. & Dean, Lloyd, (Dec. 2017), The Healing Power of Kindness, Retrieved from HuffPost Life: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-healing-power-of-kindness_b_6136272

Fahkry, Tony, (July 2016), Why Peace is Only a Thought Away, Retrieved from http://www.tonyfahkry.com/peace-thought-away/

Fahkry, Tony, (Dec. 2017), How The Power Of Kindness Impacts Your Life And Others, Retrieved from https://medium.com/the-mission/how-the-power-of-kindness-impacts-your-life-and-others-f8f5a895400

Kindness Boomerang (Video) (Aug 2011) 5:44 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAYpLVyeFU

Luks, A. & Payne, P. (2001). The Healing Power of Doing Good. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, Inc.

McMullen, L. (June 2014), 10 Good Deeds and Why You Should Do Them. (2010). Retrieved from:

https://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/slideshows/10-good-deeds-and-why-you-should-do-them?slide=2

NOVA, (March 2001), Hippocratic Oath, Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hippocratic-oath-today/

Pearsall, P. (June 1999). Kindness and Health. Retrieved from: http://www.kindness.com.au/kindness-and-health.html

Sreenivasan, Shoba, Ph.D., and Weinberger, Linda E., Ph.D. (Nov 2017), Why Random Acts of Kindness Matter to Your Well-being, Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-nourishment/201711/why-random-acts-kindness-matter-your-well-being

Szalavitz, M. (2013, May 9). The Biology of Kindness: How It Makes Us Happier and Healthier. Retrieved from Time: http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/09/why-kindness-can-make-us-happier-healthier/

The Science if Kindness (Video), 2:16 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9UByLyOjBM