{"id":2023,"date":"2017-03-22T10:52:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T10:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/?p=2023"},"modified":"2021-07-23T08:24:07","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T08:24:07","slug":"as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/","title":{"rendered":"As one goes up &#8211; the other comes down"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2028\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2028\" class=\"wp-image-2028 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"brain heart seesaw\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw.jpg 683w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2028\" class=\"wp-image-2028 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"brain heart seesaw\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><p id=\"caption-attachment-2028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">image: iStock Photo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down.<\/p>\n<p>As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to come down. Less kindness, on the other hand, often correlates with more stress.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s certainly what research is showing.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.psychologicalscience.org\/news\/releases\/helping-others-dampens-the-effects-of-everyday-stress.html#.WNJQBxicaCQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study<\/a> led by Emily Ansell, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, the behaviour habits and stress levels of 77 people were recorded over a 14-day period.<\/p>\n<p>The way it worked was that each person had to fill out an online assessment every day where they would record any acts of kindness that they did as well as any stressful life events.<\/p>\n<p>Ansell found that kindness and stress were polar opposites. The more kindness the participants reported on any one day, the less stress they experienced.<\/p>\n<p>Even if they reported a lot of stressful events on a day, if they also did lots of kindnesses on that day then their stress levels were comparatively low.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t that being kind prevented stressful events from happening. No, not at all. It was that kindness buffered the <em>effects<\/em> of stressful events. It cancelled out much of the negative emotion of stressful events. Life happens, but kindness colours our experience of it.<\/p>\n<p>The kindnesses each person did didn\u2019t have to be big either. We sometimes get the idea that only big things qualify as kind acts. In fact, in the study, many people reported acts like holding open a door for someone, paying someone a compliment, or even helping someone with their homework.<\/p>\n<p>In other <a href=\"http:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/molecules-of-kindness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blogs<\/a>, I\u2019ve described how oxytocin is a \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/molecules-of-kindness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">molecule of kindness<\/a>\u2019 in that just as we have stress hormones like cortisol and adrenalin, which are produced in response to feelings brought about by stress, so oxytocin is produced in response to feelings of connection that arise through acts of kindness.<\/p>\n<p>Lots of stress can have a damaging effect on our arteries and that\u2019s why stress is associated with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, even heart attack and stroke. Oxytocin, on the other hand, is \u2018cardioprotective\u2019. It protects the heart and arteries. It lowers blood pressure and is protective towards heart attack and stroke.<\/p>\n<p>So kindness goes beyond improving mental and emotional health by buffering stress. It can improve cardiovascular health too.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays there is a lot of focus on mindfulness meditation for helping people to reduce stress in their lives. I am an advocate of that and have indeed written lots on the <a href=\"http:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/how-meditation-affects-the-cells-of-breast-cancer-survivors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">beneficial effects of meditation<\/a>. I meditate every day. But meditation isn\u2019t the only way to reduce stress. Being kind reduces stress too and has additional direct cardiovascular benefits as well.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like to see kindness increasing more in our societies, in our businesses, in the teachings in our schools, and even in the words and behaviours of our politicians and leaders. Kindness makes better societies. It creates a better world. And without doubt, it makes us healthier.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like to see businesses actively encouraging their staff to be helpful to each other and to go that extra half mile for\u00a0their customers. I\u2019d like to see more business focused more on the contribution that they make to society than on their bottom line. I\u2019d like to see politicians promote kindness in the policies they create, vote for and endorse, in the language they use and in the way that they speak to and treat each other.<\/p>\n<p>I was warmed recently when I gave a talk at my niece\u2019s school to a class of 8-year-olds. I spoke about kindness. The teacher then encouraged the entire class to be kind to each other. She even decided that the student who helped others the most over the next few days would get a copy of my book. OK, they might not totally understand the book as they\u2019re only 8, but it was the gesture from the teacher that mattered most.<\/p>\n<p>I learned that day that some of the teachers in the school regularly talk about kindness with the children and discus the importance of it in life.<\/p>\n<p>Kindness doesn\u2019t need to cost anything. A smile. A compliment. Sitting with someone in school who feels alone. A hug. Holding a door. Looking after the kids. A friendly word. An offer of help or support. A well-timed phone call \u2026<\/p>\n<p>All kindnesses matter!<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><br \/>\nReferences to all studies can be found in, &#8216;The 5 Side Effects of Kindness&#8217;, by David R Hamilton PhD (February, 2017). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Five-Side-effects-Kindness-Better-Happier\/dp\/1781808139\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1490178856&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+5+side+effects+of+kindness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon.co.uk<\/a> \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Five-Side-Effects-Kindness-Happier\/dp\/1781808139\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1490178888&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+5+side+effects+of+kindness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon.com<\/a> \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Five-Side-Effects-Kindness-Happier\/dp\/1781808139\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1490178920&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+5+side+effects+of+kindness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon.ca<\/a> \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com.au\/Five-Side-effects-Kindness-Better-Happier-ebook\/dp\/B01MSQVP3H\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1490178961&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+5+side+effects+of+kindness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down. As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to come down. Less kindness, on the other hand, often correlates with more stress. That\u2019s certainly what research is showing. In a study led by Emily&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,165],"tags":[12,26,33,36,15],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>As one goes up - the other comes down - David R Hamilton PHD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down. As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As one goes up - the other comes down - David R Hamilton PHD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down. As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David R Hamilton PHD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-22T10:52:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-23T08:24:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Hamilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Hamilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/\",\"name\":\"As one goes up - the other comes down - David R Hamilton PHD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-22T10:52:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-23T08:24:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e586fb83860db4f70db4bc10ec3cc7d3\"},\"description\":\"Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down. As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg\",\"width\":683,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"image: iStock Photo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"As one goes up &#8211; the other comes down\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/\",\"name\":\"David R Hamilton PHD\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e586fb83860db4f70db4bc10ec3cc7d3\",\"name\":\"David Hamilton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff0a530fa841cbddbbf18c04d859ea0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff0a530fa841cbddbbf18c04d859ea0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Hamilton\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/author\/david\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"As one goes up - the other comes down - David R Hamilton PHD","description":"Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down. As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"As one goes up - the other comes down - David R Hamilton PHD","og_description":"Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down. As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to","og_url":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/","og_site_name":"David R Hamilton PHD","article_published_time":"2017-03-22T10:52:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-23T08:24:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":683,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Hamilton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Hamilton","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/","url":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/","name":"As one goes up - the other comes down - David R Hamilton PHD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-03-22T10:52:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-23T08:24:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e586fb83860db4f70db4bc10ec3cc7d3"},"description":"Kindness and stress are like two people on a seesaw. As one side goes up, the other comes down. As we practice more kindness in our lives, stress tends to","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mind-heart-seesaw-1.jpg","width":683,"height":512,"caption":"image: iStock Photo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/as-one-goes-up-the-other-comes-down\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"As one goes up &#8211; the other comes down"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/","name":"David R Hamilton PHD","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e586fb83860db4f70db4bc10ec3cc7d3","name":"David Hamilton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff0a530fa841cbddbbf18c04d859ea0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff0a530fa841cbddbbf18c04d859ea0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Hamilton"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/author\/david\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drdavidhamilton.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}