Is being kind good for your health? Science suggests yes

Most of us think of kindness as something we do for other people – holding a door, offering a compliment, helping a stranger cross the road.

But research suggests that these small, thoughtful gestures might be doing us a favour as well.

“Kindness can give you this overwhelmingly positive, warm feeling that connects you to the other person,” said Zita Oravecz, a professor of human development and family studies at The Pennsylvania State University, or Penn State, in the United States.

Psychologists even have a name for it: “positivity resonance” – a brief but powerful moment of shared goodwill that can reverberate through the body.

“It happens on the biological and the behavioural level,” Oravecz said. “People smile at each other, the love hormone oxytocin gets released, their heart rates synchronise".

When our brains release neurochemicals like oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin, they help suppress stress hormones such as cortisol. Over time, this can help lower blood pressure and reduce inflammation.

The science of 'positivity resonance'

This phenomenon has measurable health effects. Studies show that acts of kindness – from helping a neighbour to volunteering – can lower stress, reduce anxiety, lift mood, and even lessen physical pain.

In one experimental studypublished in 2022, people who were asked to perform regular acts of kindness saw greater reductions in both depression and anxiety symptoms than those who weren't.

“Social connection is one of the ingredients of life most strongly associated with well-being. Performing acts of kindness seems to be one of the best ways to promote those connections," said David Cregg, one of the study's authors who was then a researcher at The Ohio State University.

The United Kingdom’s Mental Health Foundation reports similar benefits: helping others can reduce stress and improve self-esteem, happiness, and overall emotional wellbeing.

An international trial published online by Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology suggested kindness decreases social isolation and loneliness, which are increasingly linked to a variety of health problems.

These findings come as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that loneliness affects one in six people worldwide.

Physical benefits of kindness?

Furthermore, kindness doesn’t just boost mental health – it may also ease physical pain.

A decade-long study of about 48,000 people in the UK found that those who regularly donated money to charity or volunteered their time experienced less pain that interfered with their ability to work.

The research tracked participants between 2011 and 2020. After accounting for factors such as age, income, initial health status, and depression, researchers found that people who either donated or volunteered reported lower levels of pain interference over time compared with those who did neither.

The effect was strongest among people who donated both their time and money on a regular basis.

Another study tracked nearly 13,000 American adults over a decade, findings that people who volunteered at least 100 hours per year had a lower risk of death and were less likely to experience physical limitations later in life.

They were also more active and reported higher levels of optimism, happiness, and life purpose, the study found. Notably, there was no link between volunteering and other health issues, such as diabetes, sleep problems, or depression – underscoring that there are still open questions about how exactly kindness is linked to health.

Ultimately, while we might imagine kindness as something grand or time-consuming, Oravecz insists it doesn’t have to be.

“Even small acts of kindness can have large, unforeseen consequences,” she said. “It can alter someone’s life path".