Has it happened to you? A morning gone wrong, on your last nerve, can’t take much more, unexpectedly, out of the blue, someone does something nice for you. A caring gesture by a friend, shifts you out of a bad mood as quickly as you got in one. A simple act of kindness, in the blink of an eye, stops your cortisol from reaching record highs and lifts you out of fight or flight.
An act of kindness can quickly distract to change your vibe.
Doing a good deed is a beautiful thing, whether we offer support to a friend, a donation to a favorite charity, or a small gesture to someone in need. Even though the receiver is the beneficiary of the healing act, the giver may benefit more. Studies show that when we perform an act of charity, our reward center in the brain “lights up” to release feel-good chemicals (serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin), much like a runner’s high. These elevated endorphins provide a “warm glow” feeling that’s called the “helper’s high,” nature’s built-in reward system for lending a helping hand.
Kindness is the physiological opposite of stress.
It’s common knowledge that stress harms the body and causes illness by suppressing the immune system and increasing inflammation. When life gets challenging, and stress is constant, blood pressure elevates, heart rate increases, and so does cortisol levels, nature’s built-in alarm system. Cortisol’s essential role is keeping inflammation down, but too much is not a good thing. “It’s so effective at suppressing the immune system that millions use it every day in cream form to treat conditions like eczema, itching, and rashes.” David R. Hamilton, PhD.
The excellent news, altruism, lowers cortisol levels. Generous people have 23% less and age slower than the average population. Generosity may even have a greater impact than diet and exercise for protecting our long-term physical and mental health. In Dawson Church’s Genie in Your Genes, a large Michigan study included a large sample of 2,700 men over ten years and found that the men who engaged in regular volunteer activities had death rates half of those who did not. The charitable side effects included reduced stress; improved immune system functioning; a sense of joy, peace, and well-being; and relief from physical and emotional pain.
Pay attention to what you pay attention to.
It’s interesting to know that just by watching someone else pay-it-forward, the helper’s high is activated and can still positively impact the way you feel.
Dr. David McClelland, a behavioral psychologist at Harvard who studied the protective effect of the hormone S-lgA, a fairly good indicator of overall immune function, began a study to determine the impact of a good deed on the immune system.
Dr. McClelland had students watch a movie of Mother Theresa’s work helping the poor in Calcutta, India. As they saw Mother Theresa ministering to the poor, the participants’ protective antibody markers (S-lgA) increased compared to the participants who watched a neutral film. Called the “Mother Theresa Effect”, the elevated immunity remained after retesting one hour later.
With this study in mind, it’s clear that where your attention goes your energy flows. Whether you watch a feel good documentary on Netflix to increase your immunity or scroll through upsetting headline news on your phone, what you see impacts how you feel, your immunity, and your overall health.
Should doctors prescribe community service for disease prevention?
How about a prescription from your doctor, “Start a volunteer program one day a week and see me in 6 months”. A meta-analysis of 20 studies asked if doctors should recommend public service as a health intervention. The answer was maybe. Even though the positive benefits were evident, it remains unclear until a carefully designed trial is complete.
Many factors influence generosity. Feelings of empathy and compassion can motivate us to help others. Certain personality traits, morals, and sense of identity can affect a person’s willingness to offer acts of giving.
Whatever the influence, when we help others or think about helping others, we stop thinking about ourselves and our problems. Altruism is a distraction to reduce our stress and improve our health and wellness.
An act of kindness, given or received, will change your vibe, and reverse a morning gone wrong.
Enjoy giving yourself a daily dose of helper’s high for the health of it!