ONLY KINDNESS MATTERS - THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF ALTRUISM

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

ONLY KINDNESS MATTERS

"When planning revenge, remember to dig two graves." Confucius

STUDY-KINDNESS CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE


You know how you're always hearing about how if you display kindness it's good karma and that it will eventually pay off? Well, apparently, it pays off immediately.

Research shows that when we are kind to others it boosts our immune systems and alleviates depression, thereby staving off disease. Being kind has even been linked to suppressing cancer. So, I assume that the inverse is also true. That is, being purposefully unkind weakens our immune systems which might tend to allow mental and physical illnesses to bloom.

Several scientists named Luk, Levy, and Pearsall have documented this phenomenon, in separate correlations using similar but distinct methods. In research involving thousands of subjects, statistical evidence showed time and time again that the giver of kindness, the receiver of kindness and the on-lookers of a kind act all experienced the same level of white blood cell increases in the body and endorphin increases in the brain (a feel-good chemical that alleviates depression).