Today, November 13, is World Kindness Day. Did you know that doing good and making kindness a habit brings a lot of health benefits?
It is true. Acts of Kindness are a win-win situation where the giver and the recipient both enjoy the benefits. Generosity, compassion, volunteering, and donating money to charity are known to make everyone involved feel good. All it takes is one single act of kindness to see an instant boost to your mental and physical health.
There is a special happiness and peace when we place someone else’s needs before our own. This can be as simple as smiling at someone or just offering your seat on the bus to someone.
Being kind helps reduce stress, puts us in a good mood and makes us happy. And it needn’t cost a thing.
Let’s first look at some specific health benefits of kindness following by an infographic that summarizes it and offers tips you can include in your routine.
The Health Benefits of Kindness
Mental health
- Kindness triggers changes linked to happiness in the brain and because it feels good, it promotes well-being. When we help others, we attract social support and become more active. We also have less time to focus on our own problems as we’re busy doing something meaningful. Being kind to others makes us love ourselves more.
- As we socialize, we develop a sense of belonging, minimizing the chances of feeling lonely.
- When we are kind, our ability to put things in perspective improves. Doing something nice for someone whose condition is not as good as ours helps us see the big picture and realize how fortunate we are. We value what we have even more and get into the habit of being positive.
- When we do things for others, we become more confident and in control of our lives. Our outlook becomes more optimistic. We encourage the community we live in to also do the same, making the world a better place.
- Above all, we collect happy memories that stay with us, giving us happy thoughts for those times when we need a pick-me-up.
Physical health
- Kindness literally zaps stress. How can we worry and be stressed when we’re doing something nice?
- Our positivity also strengthens the immune system and protects us from disease.
- When negative feelings like anger are minimized, we protect ourselves from their harmful impact. Performing acts of kindness keeps unhappy feelings out of our lives and promotes good health and well being.
- Giving others and supporting them increases our lifespan naturally.
Ready to make kindness a habit?
Here is the infographic that explains why doing good is good for health along with plenty of ideas for simple acts of kindness you can adopt and practice on a daily basis.
Enjoy!
