Benefits of showing kindness to others

Showing kindness to others can do more than make their day better – it can also make you healthier and happier.

“There is so much research about all the benefits of volunteerism and acts of kindness,” says Sandy Pyle, RN, oncology nurse navigator at the Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support at Piedmont Athens Regional.

Research has suggested that random acts of kindness can:

• Be contagious – when other people see you do something good, they may feel more motivated to follow suit

• Boost energy and happiness

• Decrease stress, anxiety and depression

• Help you have a more positive attitude

• Improve your sense of life satisfaction

• Increase your lifespan

• Increase serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin, the body’s feel-good chemicals that improve your mood, reduce pain and boost feelings of love

• Light up your brain’s pleasure sensors, giving you a “helper’s high”

• Lower your blood pressure

• Strengthen your relationships

Ideas for acts of kindness

There are so many ways to show kindness to others, using your unique gifts to serve those around you. Kindness can take many forms, such as giving a gift, offering a compliment, or sharing encouraging words. It may also involve helping with a task, offering a hug, or spending meaningful time with someone.

Consider what would best suit the recipient. If you don’t know someone well, a hug or unsolicited advice may not always be appropriate. In those situations, an encouraging word or a small gift is often a more thoughtful and well-received gesture. 

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Using your crafting skills. “The Loran Smith Center is the beneficiary of a group that knits caps and makes beautiful quilts for our chemotherapy patients,” says Pyle. “We also have groups who make heart-shaped pillows for our post-mastectomy patients and teacups for patients in the hospital. People who receive these gifts are oftentimes so touched by these acts of kindness.”

• Show your support. Pyle leads a breast cancer support group. Some members still attend nine or ten years after diagnosis. “They come back and I know it’s to help women who are new to the group, who have just been diagnosed,” she says. “That’s where I see the giving and the acts of kindness: when they share their story, what they went through and how they got through it.” 

• Give someone a compliment. Do you love your coworker’s earrings or the shoes of the woman in front of you at the store? Tell her!

• Donate to charity. Pick a cause you believe in and give money to support it.

• Consider paying for the person behind you in line at a drive-thru. You could also treat someone nearby by covering their meal at a restaurant.

• Let someone cut in front of you in traffic.

• Offer to let someone with fewer groceries go ahead of you in line at the supermarket.

• Bring a meal to a friend who has a lot on his or her plate. Perhaps a recent cancer diagnosis, the loss of a loved one or the birth of a new baby.

• Offer to do a chore your spouse or partner doesn’t like to do, such as taking out the trash.

• Send a note to a loved one who lives far away.

• Leave your server a large tip after your next meal.

• Write a thank-you note to a healthcare provider who has helped you in a difficult circumstance.

• Send a loved one flowers for no reason.

Finally, Pyle says to be gentle with yourself during serious medical challenges. Focus on your health before worrying about helping others. While putting others first can boost your mood, you don’t have to be strong for everyone all the time.

“Your feelings are valid, and what you are going through is really crummy,” she says. “You don’t always have to be a pillar of strength. It’s OK to curl up on the couch, but it’s also important to get up off the couch and do something you like to do.”

Learn more ways to reduce stress and improve your well-being.

References:

The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation