Chapter 5: Physical Health effects of kindness
https://time.com/4619536/debbie-reynolds-dead-carrie-fisher-broken-heart/
https://www.biography.com/actors/carrie-fisher-debbie-reynolds-relationship
Links to the story about Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Although the official cause on death certificate was stroke, there certainly was an impact of stress on Debbie Reynolds after learning about the death of her daughter.
Takotsubo’s cardiomyopathy
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circulationaha.108.767012
https://time.com/4619536/debbie-reynolds-dead-carrie-fisher-broken-heart/
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/broken-heart-syndrome
These links are to provide further medical evidence and recognition of broken heart syndrome. The first link shows what the ventriculiogram looks like and also the appearance of the Takotsubo.
The second link is from the British Heart Foundation and describes the condition in more detail as does the third link which is from the Johns Hopkins Hospital group.
Pain perception
This paper is an overview of pain and how our brain perceives it. It discusses the regions of the brain involved in pain perception, the fact that chronic pain can lead to changes in the brain structure - a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity and how psychological factors and stress can enhance the brain’s sensitivity to pain. Finally it talks about the bidirectional nature of pain and emotion and suggests a holistic role in the form of psychological therapy to treat pain by supporting the mind and the body.
Meditation:
a)Fox KC, Dixon ML, Nijeboer S, Girn M, Floman JL, Lifshitz M, Ellamil M, Sedlmeier P, Christoff K. Functional neuroanatomy of meditation: A review and meta-analysis of 78 functional neuroimaging investigations. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Jun;65:208-28.
This review and meta analysis of 78 functional neuroimaging (fMRI and PET) studied the impact of meditation from 31 experiments in 527 patients. They did find some changes congruent with mediation practices although there were some methodological concerns.
b)Garrison KA, Scheinost D, Constable RT, Brewer JA. BOLD signal and functional connectivity associated with loving kindness meditation. Brain Behav. 2014 May;4(3):337-47.
Loving kindness meditation is a form of meditation involving directed well-wishing, typically supported by the silent repetition of phrases such as “may all things be happy” to foster a feeling of selfless love. This study used fMRI to look at the effect of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal during loving kindness meditation and compared novices to experienced meditators. The paper shows images of fMRI and this demonstrates the differences between the two groups. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24944863/)
c)Lee TM, Leung MK, Hou WK, Tang JC, Yin J, So KF, Lee CF, Chan CC. Distinct neural activity associated with focused-attention meditation and loving-kindness meditation. PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e40054.
This study investigated different types of meditation (Focused attention meditation and Loving Kindness Meditation) in experts and novices during cognitive tests (sustained attention) and emotional processing and demonstrated distinct neural activity associated with the tasks of sustained attention and emotion processing. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22905090/)
d) Lutz A, Brefczynski-Lewis J, Johnstone T, Davidson RJ. Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: effects of meditative expertise. PLoS One. 2008 Mar 26;3(3):e1897.
This study shows brain imaging using fMRI and assessed the impact of the voluntary generation of compassion on the neural circuitry and the effects seen in expert and novice meditators. The limbic circuitry is shown to be involved in the emotion sharing and is enhanced in experts compared to novices. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18365029/)
Pain:
Penlington C. Exploring a compassion-focused intervention for persistent pain in a group setting. British Journal of Pain. 2018;13(1):59-66.
This study demonstrated how mindfulness and loving kindness interventions can have a benefit in reducing pain although this study was an uncontrolled and unpowered study purely to explore initial evidence and to explore the feasibility in patients.
Back pain:
Diez GG, Anitua E, Castellanos N, Vázquez C, Galindo-Villardón P, Alkhraisat MH (2022) The effect of mindfulness on the inflammatory, psychological and biomechanical domains of adult patients with low back pain: A randomized controlled clinical trial. PLoS ONE 17(11): e0276734. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276734
This was a multicentred randomised controlled trial to study the effect of mindfulness-based programme on the psychological, biomechanical and inflammatory domains of patients with chronic back pain as a result of a prolapsed disc. 70 of the 96 patients completed the study and it was shown that the mindfulness based intervention resulted in a reduction in proinflammatory cytokine IL-1𝝱 and prevented the increase in cortisol and well as reducing depression, stress, and perceived pain, and increased physical function, sleep quality, life satisfaction and well-being.(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0276734#sec006)
Petrucci G, Papalia GF, Russo F, Vadalà G, Piredda M, De Marinis MG, Papalia R, Denaro V. Psychological Approaches for the Integrative Care of Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Metanalysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(1):60.
This was a systematic review and meta analysis looking at chronic back pain. 16 studies and 1058 patients were included in the analysis and the results suggested that Cognitive Behavioural therapy and Mindfulness based Stress reduction were associated with an improvement in terms of pain intensity, quality of life and disability when compared to usual treatment. (https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/60)
Systematic review of mindfulness and low back pain
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229923000110?via%3Dihub
This is a systematic review with a meta analysis looking at chronic back pain from 2023. 12 studies and 1005 patients were included in the review. In the short term there was a benefit towards pain intensity and physical quality of life but this did not appear to be sustained in the long term. The suggestion was that the quality of evidence was low to moderate given the study limitations and imprecision.
Self compassion and physical activity
Signore, A.K., Jung, M.E., Semenchuk, B. et al. A pilot and feasibility study of a randomized clinical trial testing a self-compassion intervention aimed to increase physical activity behaviour among people with prediabetes. Pilot Feasibility Stud8, 111 (2022).
This paper shows a feasibility study for a randomised controlled trial testing a self-compassion intervention for pre-diabetes people to increase physical activity behaviour. From my view point this demonstrates the attempt to back up this intervention with scientific rigour for the purposes of peer reviewed publication and to make it a holistic part of treatment.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-022-01072-6
Hall JN, Cunningham-Baker H, Bodenlos JS, Pekmezi D. Physical Activity and Self-Compassion: A Systemic Review. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2023 Dec 15;19(1):47-57.
This paper from December 2023 is a systematic review of 10 studies comprising 6808 participants (7 experimental and 3 non -experimental) exploring the benefits of self compassion and physical activity on mental and physical health. They were unclear of the direction of the relation between physical activity and self compassion but felt that it was likely to be bi-directional. They confirmed the clear potential beneficial use of practising self compassion as a tool in improving physical activity in individuals. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/pmid/39822319/)
Prosocial interventions and health outcomes
Byrne M, Tan RKJ, Wu D, et al. Prosocial Interventions and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Netw Open.2023;6(12):e2346789. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.46789
Prosocial interactions encourage voluntary actions to benefit others and this paper is a systematic review and meta analysis of 30 studies. It was associated with improved health outcomes among vulnerable groups and have been useful for addressing health disparities and it may be beneficial for both givers and recipients of the interaction.
(https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2812720)
Psychological well-being in diabetes
Friis AM, Johnson MH, Cutfield RG, Consedine NS. Kindness Matters: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindful Self-Compassion Intervention Improves Depression, Distress, and HbA1c Among Patients With Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2016 Nov;39(11):1963-1971.
This was a randomised control trial to evaluate the effects of self compassion training on the mood and metabolic outcomes among patients with diabetes. 32 patients were randomised to the mindful self compassion (MSC) and 31 were to control. The results demonstrated clinically significant reductions in depression and diabetes distress and Hb1Ac.The study concluded that being kinder to oneself rather than being harsh and self-critical may have both emotional and metabolic benefits in diabetes.
Immune system and kindness
Black DS, Slavich GM. Mindfulness meditation and the immune system: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2016 Jun;1373(1):13-24.
This is a systematic review from 2017 that looked at the effects of meditation practice on 5 different immune related parameters a)circulating and stimulated inflammatory proteins b)cellular transcription factors and gene expression c) immune cell count d)immune cell ageing and e)antibody response. Although there was heterogeneity across the studies with respect to the assays, the patient population and study design, there were possible effects of mindfulness meditation on specific markers of inflammation, cell mediated immunity and biological ageing but the results were tentative and required further replication.
West TN, Zhou J, Brantley MM, Kim SL, Brantley J, Salzberg S, Cole SW, Fredrickson BL. Effect of Mindfulness Versus Loving-kindness Training on Leukocyte Gene Expression in Midlife Adults Raised in Low-Socioeconomic Status Households. Mindfulness (N Y). 2022 May;13(5):1185-1196.
This study explored the gene expression of immune profiles inferring the genetic susceptibility to infection and the impact of mindfulness meditation versus loving kindness meditation. This was the first study to assess the impact of meditation practices on potentially reversing the susceptibility seen in low socio-encomic status groups. Both groups showed a benefit in daily reports of positive emotions and a reduction in negative emotions. Of interest was that the mindfulness meditation group showed a significant reduction in the gene expression whereas the loving kindness meditation group showed the opposite.Nevertheless the implication is that mindfulness meditation may be a viable option for improving health outcomes in an at risk group.
Regan A, Fritz MM, Walsh LC, Lyubomirsky S, Cole SW. The genomic impact of kindness to self vs. others: A randomized controlled trial. Brain Behav Immun. 2022 Nov;106:40-48.
This was a randomised controlled study that looked at a wider group of society. 182 participants were randomised to one of three groups- to perform 3 kind acts for themselves, to perform 3 kind acts for others or to list their daily activities for one day per week for 4 weeks (control group). Blood samples were collected for gene expression of a stress-related immune response gene signature known as CTRA. the samples were collected before the study period and at the end of the study. Both groups randomised to kindness demonstrated significant reductions in CTRA expression compared to the control group but interestingly the self kindness group that showed the biggest change were non-protocol adherent. Those who fully adhered to the protocol showed no difference to the control group. The conclusion from the authors of the study was the pro-social engagement in doing something kind for others shapes thegenomic impact of kindness.
Telomeres and kindness
telomere- short video to explain what these are
https://www.jax.org/news-and-insights/minute-to-understanding/what-are-telomeres
Fritz MM, Walsh LC, Cole SW, Epel E, Lyubomirsky S. Kindness and cellular aging: A pre-registered experiment testing the effects of prosocial behavior on telomere length and well-being. Brain Behav Immun Health. 2020 Dec 7;11:100187.
Telomere length is an index for cellular ageing with shortened telomeres being thought of as premature ageing. In this experiment it was found that prosocial behaviour in the form of a 4 week kindness intervention could slow telomere shortening and increase well being.
Thakur M, Patil Y, Philip ST, Hamdule T, Thimmapuram J, Vyas N, Thakur K. Impact of Heartfulness meditation practice on anxiety, perceived stress, well-being, and telomere length. Front Psychol. 2023 Jun 5;14:1158760.
This paper investigates the impact of heartfulness meditation practice on anxiety, perceived stress, well-being and telomere length. 100 individuals were recruited and randomised into two groups- a heartfulness intervention and the control group. The intervention was continued for 3 months and both groups were analysed for cortisol and telomere length before and after the intervention. Psychometric measures of anxiety, perceived stress, well being and mindfulness were also measured. Cortisol levels were shown to be decreased in the meditation group when compared to the control group, whereas the telomere length increased in the meditators group but this was not significant. However, it was recognised that future studies with a larger sample size to confirm the observations. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8474583/)
Self compassion and sleep quality
Semenchuk BN, Onchulenko S, Strachan SM. Self-compassion and sleep quality: Examining the mediating role of taking a proactive health focus and cognitive emotional regulation strategies. Journal of Health Psychology. 2021;27(10):2435-2445.
This study assesses the impact of practicing self compassion on sleep quality. There is an awareness that sleep influences mental, emotional and physical health and It has been recommended that 7-9 hours of sleep is important They studied 200 University Students recognising their failure to get good quality sleep. They found that self -compassion may help university students to get better sleep through its ability to reduce self-blame which was picked up as a negative parameter. The authors did recognise the paucity of the medical literature around this and also acknowledged some of the limitations of this study.
(https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13591053211047148)
Wollast R, Lacourse É, Mageau GA, Pelletier-Dumas M, Dorfman A, Dupéré V, et al. (2023) Trajectories of self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness during the COVID-19 pandemic: A person-oriented multi-trajectory approach. PLoS ONE 18(12): e0292522.
This longitudinal study investigated the trajectories of self-compassion, common humanity and mindfulness during the first 8 months of the COVID pandemic. It was clear that there were few studies that focussed on positive factors that could help people cope with the adverse challenges of the pandemic. 3617 participants were clustered into 4 groups of levels of kindness from low to high. They identified that individuals with high levels of self-kindness were more stable over time and also associated with greater life satisfaction, more happiness, better sleep quality and quantity and fewer negative emotions compared to those with lower levels of self-kindness.
(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0292522)
Receiving acts of kindness
Role of kindness in healthcare:
Greco, A., González-Ortiz, L.G., Gabutti, L. et al.What's the role of kindness in the healthcare context? A scoping review. BMC Health Serv Res 25, 207 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-025-12328-1
This is a general review article looking at the role of kindness in healthcare. 19 studies were analysed and revealed four categories a)organisational culture b) burnout reduction and staff well-being c) staff education and training d)communication and patient experience. It concluded that there is an additional need for research into kindness in the healthcare context and recognised its potential to revolutionise the quality of care and well-being of healthcare providers.(https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-025-12328-1)
Kindness society’s golden chain
https://www.academia.edu/?h=36594131
Social mindfulness
This website uses cookies.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.
