Kindness

Feeling Good ~ Your Health on Kindness

by

No Surprises Here – Being Kind Brings Big Health Benefits

Being there for others comes with its own rewards: kindness toward others boosts your well-being and happiness levels. Studies show that volunteers experience a boost in their mental health; they feel happier and more satisfied with their lives. And volunteering later in life has been shown to boost cognitive function and slow cognitive decline.

Our brains release oxytocin (known as the love hormone”) when we’re happy, and we become happy when we show kindness toward others. As a bonus, oxytocin further boosts kindness and generosity.

Oxylocin can help reduce blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease. It inhibits inflammation, promotes wound healing, and reduces the risk of immune disorders caused by stress. Your immune system benefits from frequent doses of the happiness hormone too. Oxytocin is not the only brain chemical released through kindness. Dopamine, the pleasure neurotransmitter, also floods our bodies, causing a feel-good state called “helper’s high. Dopamine can also affect immune cells and regulate normal immunity, Simply put, kindness strengthens your own ii-nmune system!

Source: Alive: Canada’s Natural Health & Wellness Magazine

Today’s Positive Thought ~ It’s Time to Start Living

by

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” Nhat Hanh

The day one accepts him or herself as he or she is and loves what he or she is becoming is the day one starts living.

Today’s Health Tip ~ Practicing Self-Compassion May Save Your Life

by

Be Kind to Yourself

Look in the mirror and smile, as new research has found that being kind to yourself might just help save your life.    A recent study has found women, in their forties and up, who practice self-compassion may be less likely to develop the early stages of cardiovascular disease, even if they have other risk factors, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  We’ve long been aware of the toll stress takes on our bodies and the role it plays in the development of cardiovascular disease. The prolonged pandemic has only served to amplify our daily stressors, especially for women.

So stop, breathe and pop on the kettle. It’s time to be kind to yourself. Taking time to look after your own mental wellbeing can have lasting physical benefits. . . . Self-compassion can take many forms, for some it may involve devoting some time to daily mindfulnessactivities, and for others it might be curling up in a quiet place with a good book or going for a walk. Whatever form your self-compassion takes be sure that it provides you with a place from which you can engage in some positive self-talk – be your own best friend!

Source

Feeling Good ~ Being Compassionate Increases Our Happiness & Longevity

by

Compassion is Good For You

A growing body of research shows that compassion reduces anxiety, depression and stress and may also boost immunity—along with longevity. We’re born with the instinct to be nice: Even babies and toddlers have the capacity for kindness. . . . Compassion actually gives you a veritable high. Donating money to help others lights up the brain’s pleasure centers—which are typically activated by things like food and sex—according to a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. . . . Simply witnessing an act of compassion triggers feelings of awe, admiration, warmth and love, per a study in the Journal of Positive Psychology (which may be why you compulsively click on stories about people who donate a kidney to a stranger). At the same time, it increases your desire to be more charitable yourself. Compassion also curbs the natural (and anxiety-provoking) tendency to navel-gaze.

Source

Feeling Good ~ 3 Habits to Adopt to Become Happier

by

Three Habits to Develop to Become Happier

1 Find the joy

‘Bringing focus to the small things in your day that have the potential to bring you joy is an essential habit for happiness,’ says positive psychology coach Dawn Baxter. ‘Upgrade your towels and wrap yourself in luxury each time you get out of the shower; start each day with the invigorating aroma of your favourite coffee; and make time to sit in that spot in your garden that gets the last of the sunshine. Life’s simple pleasures are easily overlooked when we’re consumed with what we need to do and where we need to be. But bring your focus back to those micro-pleasures; it’s incredible how they help you find your balance and give you the resources to enjoy your life day to day, regardless of other things that will come at you.’

2 Shift views

‘How often do you arrive at the office loudly listing all the things that have gone wrong that morning: “I couldn’t get the kids out of the door today! I forgot my bag! I hit every red light!’’ asks Baxter. ‘Instead, try “positive stacking”: acknowledge the fact that you dodged the rain, remembered your lunch, and put your favourite top in the dryer last night so it was available to wear today – and you didn’t have to iron it! We’re programmed towards negative bias, but get into the habit of spotting the good stuff. It’s easy to shift perspective back into your favour when you try, and once you’ve done it regularly, for a month or so, it soon becomes second nature.

3. Take Time

‘One habit we should all try to introduce is giving ourselves time to process what’s going on in our lives,’ says business mentor Rhiannon Bates. ‘Look at your diary and build in time after a challenging meeting to go for a walk to clear your head, or to talk with a friend after a tough day. Process your feelings and let them out, rather than bottling it all up inside. This can feel hard when you’re busy with work or children, but giving yourself even 15 minutes to decompress and reflect on what’s happened in your day, and how you are feeling, can have a huge impact on your happiness levels.’

Source: HAPPY HABITS and six tricks to make them stick!” Psychologies, Oct. 2022, p. 30. Gale OneFile: Psychology, link. Accessed 12 Feb. 2023.

Feeling Good ~ Laughing is Good for You

by

The Health Benefits of Laughter

The benefits of laughing include:

    • Relaxation and reduction in muscle tension
    • Lowered production of stress hormones
    • Improved immune system function
    • Reduction in blood pressure
    • Clearing the lungs by dislodging mucous plugs
    • Increasing the production of salivary immunoglobulin A, which defends
    • against infectious organisms that enter through the respiratory tract.
    • Aerobic effects that increased the body’s ability to utilize oxygen (Cousins called laughing “internal jogging” and it has been estimated that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine or
    • 15 minutes on an exercise bike.)
    • A rapid ability to disregard aches and pains or to perceive them as less
    • severe (Children watching funny videos while undergoing painful procedures required less pain medication during as well as after the procedure. Patients who were told hilarious one-liners following surgery also had reduced requirements for pain drugs compared to controls.)

Source

Today’s Photo ~ Every Child Deserves to be Loved

by

 

 

 

Every child deserves to be loved, taught that they are good, and told they are worthy of all the good things life has to offer.

Kindness Works ~ What Makes Acts of Kindness so Powerful?

by

Kindness is a Wellness Pill You Take with Each Kind Act

It makes sense that when someone kindly holds the door open for us, we benefit by not getting smacked in the face with the door. But research suggests that practicing kindness also significantly improves our own physical well-being. Even after researchers account for differences in factors like age, gender, education, personality and mental health, studies show that kinder behavior is linked to having fewer health problems—such as heart disease, sleep disorders and even hearing loss—and to greater longevity.

Studies have also found that being kind can help lower blood pressure and anxiety. Helping others even lessened symptoms of depression in people who had lost a spouse. Experiments show that doing something kind for someone is more likely to boost your mood and lower your stress than doing something for yourself. Plus, a recent sweeping review of data from nearly 200,000 research participants around the world found that prosocial behavior (things like donating money to charity, volunteering and spontaneously helping out) was linked to better physical and mental health.

What makes these acts of kindness so powerful? Think of life partly as a series of choices. “Each small daily choice we make either nurtures our emotional well-being or aggravates stress, and that helps or hinders our physical health,” Dr. Harding says. Practicing kindness is on the helping side of that equation.

Source: DIGIULIO, S. (2022). Why Being Kind is GOOD for your HEALTH. Good Housekeeping, 273(2), 41–44.

Kindness Works ~ Acts of Kindness are Powerful!

by

The research is piling up: Studies have found that being kind can help lower blood pressure and anxiety. Practicing helping behaviors even lessened symptoms of depression in people who had lost a spouse. Experiments show that doing something kind for someone is more likely to boost your mood and lower your stress than doing something for yourself. Plus, a recent sweeping review of data including nearly 200,000 study participants found that prosocial behavior (things like donating money to charity, volunteering, altruism, trust, and compassion) was linked to better physical and mental health.

What makes acts of kindness so powerful? “Each small daily choice we make either nurtures our emotional well-being or aggravates stress, and that helps or hinders our physical health,” Dr. Harding says. Practicing kindness is on the helping side of that equation.

We know kindness triggers a neurochemical response, explains Waguih IsHak, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and editor of The Handbook of Wellness Medicine. Oxytocin and dopamine (two feel-good hormones) get released, and cortisol (a hormone related to stress) falls.

Source: DIGIULIO, S. (2021). HOW KINDNESS CHANGES US. (Cover story). Prevention, 73(12), 28–34.

Kindness Works ~ Each Act of Kindness is Empowering

by

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt,

kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate(Albert Schweitzer).”

Each act of kindness is an act of empowerment. Each act of kindness is our way of telling the world our actions make a difference.

Keep making a difference.

Verified by MonsterInsights