A culture of kindness helps people stay healthy

MEMBER COLUMN

“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”

—Theodore Roosevelt by Beverley Bender

LW contributor

David Hamilton, Ph.D, author of “The Five Side Effects of Kindness,” says that we’re genetically wired to be kind. When we’re not being kind, it’s unhealthy. We feel separate, disconnected and unhappy.

Kindness isn’t just something we do or feel. It’s something our bodies need. Being kind actually changes the internal biochemistry of the body. There’s a physical effect, the opposite of stress.

A hormone called oxytocin is produced every time we do something kind. Hamilton calls this the “kindness hormone.”

It softens artery walls. As we become softer toward people, we soften on the inside. And when that happens, the heart doesn’t have to push as hard to get the blood through, so blood pressure drops.

You can get that healthy effect by doing nothing more than offering a smile. It’s the consistency of doing small things that matter. A couple decided to do one small act of kindness every day. A lot of their friends made fun of them. Hoping to inspire others, they posted their efforts on social media under hashtag #keepAmericakind.

They put coins in expired parking meters, sent pizzas to sheriff’s departments, made cookies for strangers, construction workers, crossing guards and UPS drivers.

After 365 days of doing small acts, they found that kindness was like a muscle. If it went unused, it would atrophy, and the urge to be kind would go away. The more you do acts of kindness, the more comfortable you are and the better you’re become at doing it.

That seems to suggest that the earlier you start being kind, the better at it you will be.

Brian Williams, founder of Think Kindness, developed a program specifically for schools to teach kids that no kind act is too small.

His job is to go into a school, make kindness cool and then teach the benefits of acts of kindness.

It’s super important that we start kids early, to train them to say, “Every single day, you have an opportunity to make a difference in the world, but it’s up to you as to whether you’ll take actions.”

He advised doing good deeds, such as writing a note telling a teacher that “you are awesome,” and then delivering the message without anyone noticing.

When people see those acts of kindness, it reinforces the belief that our world is good and awesome, that people are awesome, and we can all band together to make a difference.

One middle school started a “kindness crew” made up of students, who organized a schoolwide kindness campaign.

The students said that it changed their school culture. Bullying diminished and kindness prospered. Kindness begets kindness.

It’s contagious in all the right ways. I urge you to add this to your New Year’s resolution, to do some small act of kindness every day this year.

Maya Angelo said, “People will forget what you say; people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”