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David R Hamilton PhD

Using Science to Inspire

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Recent posts

  • You only win if you’re not trying to win
  • The healing power of nature
  • How to write a book
  • Visualise illness becoming wellness (and the science of why it works)
  • Mind and Weight Loss

Welcome

Channel 4, Sunday Brunch, August 13th 2017

Some #TuesdayThoughts from @DrDRHamilton who tells us exactly how being kind to other people can literally improve your health! pic.twitter.com/4ofZOjE5KB

— Sunday Brunch (@SundayBrunchC4) August 15, 2017

A few of my books

iheartme200pxthe-5-side-effects-of-kindness-jacket

Twitter

Dr David R HamiltonFollow

Dr David R Hamilton
Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
runnergirl1953runnergirl1953@runnergirl1953·
24 Jul

You only win if you're not trying to win https://drdavidhamilton.com/you-only-win-if-youre-not-trying-to-win/ Brilliant blog by @DrDRHamilton ...How to use Catch-22's to create a good life.

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Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
nataliasara2Natalia Sara (😷)@nataliasara2·
25 Jul

➡️Ser amable.⬅️ #recomiendo este artículo de @LaVanguardia @DrDRHamilton Practicar la #amabilidad genera serotonina, antídoto para sentirnos mejor y transformar nuestras células, comprobado científicamente en diversos estudios. ➡️Todo lo que pensamos tiene un efecto físico⬅️

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Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
DolorssetoDolors Seto@Dolorsseto·
23 Jul

Visca l’amabilitat! 😊😊 @DrDRHamilton

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Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
SchoolofKindSchool of Kindness@SchoolofKind·
22 Jul

In our Kindness Workshops and teaching resources, we teach children about the science of kindness and the impact it has on our minds and bodies.

How amazing is this ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
SpreadtheRSpreadtheRipple@SpreadtheR·
13 Jul

‘The 5 Side Effects of Kindness’ by @run4thesights

@DrDRHamilton you may be interested in this one. Thank you for your inspiration. :-)

#spreadtheripple #kindness
https://link.medium.com/yH7YH86NRhb

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davidrhamiltonphd

Dr David R Hamilton
I love being in nature. It always makes me feel at I love being in nature. It always makes me feel at peace. I’ve posted a few times recently about why nature has such effects. Nature also helped me through a time several years ago when I was struggling with my mental health. The only two things that helped ease the dense feeling of depression I had at the time was watching nature programmes on TV, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, and going for a walk near trees. As I wrote in other posts, the experience of nature automatically calms the human nervous system. I didn’t know that back then, but learned for myself. To be honest, the experience actually helped spark a passion in me to research and educate myself on ways to optimise health and happiness. I’ve now written 11 books since then and have learned quite a bit about health as well as lots of fascinating ways that we can optimise it and take our lives to higher levels. As a culmination of all this research and book writing, I created Personal Development Club, where I give live monthly talks online plus Q&A sessions to subscribers, plus subscribers receive exclusive access to a private website packed with videos, audios, and meditations. Click Learn More (or link in bio) if you want to check it out or join the growing community.😊
Flood your body with the good stuff. Feelings of s Flood your body with the good stuff. Feelings of stress produce stress hormones, like adrenalin and cortisol. Feelings produced by kindness create kindness hormones. That’s what I call them, really to draw a parallel with stress in that it’s the feeling that produces them. It’s not a situation that produces stress hormones, for example, but how you feel about the situation that produces them. Similarly, it’s not kindness itself that produces kindness hormones, but how kindness feels. The main kindness hormone is oxytocin. As well as reproduction and social bonding, it plays multiple roles in the body, from protecting the heart, aiding digestion, even to helping with wound repair. It’s pretty good stuff!! So be kind! Flood your body with the good stuff.🥰🧡🌸💫 . . . #bekind #oxytocin #kindnessquotes #thefivesideeffectsofkindness #kindnesshormones
I love this use of kindness to overcome hate. One I love this use of kindness to overcome hate. One person used bin liners to cover up the abusive graffiti, and then lots of others added post it notes with loving, kind and supportive messages.🧡 Let’s be kind to one another, always … in all ways! 🧡🌸🦋 📸 credit: @bbcnews (first 3) and @amnesty (4th one).
I’ve been recording the audio book of my new boo I’ve been recording the audio book of my new book (out in September) over the past few days. I’ve so enjoyed it. I love the name and feel of the studio I recorded it in - Good Vibrations. @gvstirling It’s a recording studio in Stirling, central Scotland, and only 15 min from my home in Dunblane. It’s actually the first time I’ve not had to fly to London to record an audiobook as neither my publisher @hayhouseuk or myself realised the studio was there. It felt good to be doing normal stuff again, although saying that, I don’t suppose I can count recording audiobooks as a normal thing for me 😂, but it was nice to be out and about doing work stuff again. I now just hope listeners are ok with my Scottish accent. I once had a review along the lines of, ‘great book, shame about the Scottish accent’.😂 But I did speak slowly, if a bit animated at times when I got carried away with the content, but the producer felt it worked having my personality in the reading of it, so we ran with it.😁 I recorded in my favourite t-shirt, a gift from @momgerm and @btwfoundation It always helps me feel in the right mental and emotional space when I’m doing something important.🌸🧡 . . #bekind #whywoowooworks
I had a nice wee chill out in the park yesterday w I had a nice wee chill out in the park yesterday while reading a book. I love being around trees and the sounds of birds. It relaxes me. I feel I’ve needed the rest. It’s why I’ve not posted much recently. I’ve been a little overwhelmed with workload. I somehow managed to arrange a final editorial deadline for my new book at the same time as an OU 4th year mathematics exam.😂 Nature has a direct impact on the human nervous system. I wrote about this in a post a few months ago, that over eons humans have spent 99.99% of our time in natural surroundings and only 0.01% in built up surroundings. A consequence is that the human nervous system is adapted to natural. It means that it begins to calm in and around nature. Our ancient ancestors experienced relative calm over their lives compared to the average amount of stress that most of us feel in our modern world. They also lived most of their lives in natural settings. An association grew between nature and a calm nervous system over time. Today, studies show that hospital patients recover faster when they have a window view of nature and even experience less pain when the room contains plants. One of the other reasons we recognise nature is that it is fractal, oscillatory. For example, the heart beats in and out, we breathe in and out, the Earth spins and gives us night and day. As a plant or a tree grows, it reaches a certain point and its rules of growth say, ‘repeat’, and it repeats what it’s just done, like a beating heart. The result is repeats of leaves on a stem of plants or of branches of trees. Our brains and nervous systems recognise anything natural because this oscillatory behaviour is inherent to nature. But most of us live in blocky buildings. Some are pleasant to look at, but they don’t do much for our nervous system unless we bring nature into and around them, like plants and flowers, or better still, embed them within natural surroundings. It’s why many of us have an innate desire to adorn our interiors and exteriors with plants and flowers. Given its health benefits, expose yourself to nature as often as you can.🌿🌸☀️🧡🦋😊 #nature #photooftheday #happy #natureishealthy #natureheals
This is mental health awareness week. You may reme This is mental health awareness week. You may remember that the theme last year was kindness. The theme this year is nature. We need nature. And I really mean the ‘need’ bit. The human brain and autonomic nervous system is actually wired for nature. Our ancient ancestors evolved over eons in natural environments. As such, the human species has spent 99.99% of time surrounded by nature and only 0.01% of time in ‘modern’ built up surroundings. Evolution is slow to catch up with the change. Lots of research shows that nature has an automatic calming effect on the nervous system. Being in the presence of trees, plants, flowers, the sounds of birds, running water is instantly recognised by the human nervous system, causing the brain and body to enter a relaxed mode. It’s not just the contrast - that nature seems slower in contrast to our busy lives. There is an actual inbuilt effect on the brain and nervous system!! In fact, research now shows that people recover faster in hospitals when they have a window view of nature than when their view is of another building, say, or a car park. So much so, in fact, that some researchers have now stated that not only is nature beneficial to us, but being deprived of it is actually harmful. I thought I’d share this wee bit of science today because sometimes just knowing that something can benefit us without us having to do anything, is really helpful. When I say, ‘without us having to do anything’, I mean, without any effort of thinking. If you can, spend even just a few minutes in a green, natural environment today. Hug a tree if you like (I do - and believe it or not, it actually releases oxytocin, which will benefit your heart).🧡🌳🌸🦢🐜🪴🐝 #natureishealing #nature #natureisbeautiful #natureisgoodforyou #mentalhealthawareness
I’m doing a free online talk on 12th April. It’s the Bank of England Flagship seminar, where I’ll be interviewed by BoE chief economist, Andy Haldane, and the subject is kindness. I’m so pleased to be invited. To be honest, when the invite came through on email from Andy’s office, I sheepishly responded with, “Are you sure you have the right person?” 😂😂 It’s because it’s usually famous people or people very well known in the public eye who do this seminar. For example, @judymurray_ has done one, as has Prue Leith, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Billy Bragg, Sir Cary Cooper, and others. It turned out that Andy had heard me on a BBC Radio 4 podcast, ‘Don’t tell me the score’ hosted by @simonmundie and loved it and immediately decided that the seminar should focus on kindness. It’s funny how things work. It’s interview style, but it’s just me answering so it’ll be a lot like a talk. As I said, it’s free to the public. There’s only 1,000 spaces available and it’s expected to fill up, so you need to register. It’s April 12th at 12 noon. The link is in my bio. 😊
Just thought I’d post a wee reminder that today Just thought I’d post a wee reminder that today (31st March) is the last day that my book is available on Kindle for 71p (99 cents). In case you’d thought about it and forgot. That’s the sort of thing I do all the time.😂 It covers different strategies for building self esteem, including how posture and body language can ‘wire’ better feelings into the brain, as well as exercises for self compassion and self forgiveness. It’s the book that took me longest to write and also the one I still have to dip into the most, to remind myself to put into practice some of the strategies.🙃😅 . . . #iheartme #selflove #selfcare #selfcompassion #begentlewithyourself
After I posted a video a few days ago about Covid After I posted a video a few days ago about Covid vaccines and that I had just had mine, I received a large amount of abuse and personal attacks. Some friends had been worried because they thought the vaccine would give them Covid, or because they were just a bit uncertain how vaccines work. So the video was to help people with concerns of this nature. My motivation was to help. That’s all. I didn’t imagine the post would descend into increasingly more personal and abusive comments and assaults on my character and integrity. I found the judgement, harshness, and personal attacks increasingly hard to take. Despite the work I do on myself, I am only human. I felt increasingly anxious as the day went on. It brought up memories of being bullied at school. Once one person posted something nasty or personal, others seemed to think they could too, and it gradually descended into a landslide of attacks and abuse. Some were shocking. I got RIP in capital letters. One claimed my page is full of lies and deceit and the video is ‘proof’ that I’m building it so I can push an ‘agenda’ onto innocent people. The words, ‘proof that’ and ‘clearly’, were aplenty as some made false assumption after false assumption. I was accused of only replying to people who agreed with me. Actually, I mostly chose to respond to comments made with respect and kindness, but not ones that made aggressive demands of me! As an act of self care, to protect my own mental health, I took the decision to block a significant number of people from my page, the worst offenders, which also thankfully erased their comments. I do not wish to have such nasty, abusive and aggressive content on my page. Differing in opinion is fine, but we don’t need to be aggressive and abusive about it. And for those still labouring under the belief that I’m pushing a dark agenda, no I’m not working for Nike or secretly being paid by any ‘big corporates’. I just happen to have a Nike t-shirt, like millions of other people around the world. I got it online for about £20 and like to wear it when I play sports, which I plan to do later.
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“David Hamilton is an expert on how our thoughts and minds can physically change our bodies.” Daily Express

“David Hamilton displays natural communication skills and adaptability in successfully engaging with business audiences.”  Drew Pryde, Chairman of the Scottish Institute of Business Leaders

“Very Impressive!” Red Magazine

Kindred Spirit Magazine, “Best MBS Writer Award 2016”

Banner photo by Shambhala Wolfhaart
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