How Being Kind Helps Your Immune System, Reduces Stress and Changes Lives with Dr David Hamilton

The world is changing and people are feeling
scared. What we regard as normal has been completely flipped on its head. What
we need now more than ever is kindness.

When you’re kind to someone, it’s not just that
person who benefits. Kindness makes you happier. It’s good for your
heart. It helps support your immune system. It slows ageing. It improves
relationships. And it’s contagious – any small act of kindness you might
perform is proven to have a ripple effect that reaches over 100 more people and
I can’t think of a better message to put out there in these unique and
uncertain times.

My guest this week is David Hamilton, a
pharmacist-turned-author with a special interest in how the mind affects the
body, and vice versa. We chat about his fascination with the placebo effect and
the many studies that demonstrate how the brain actually changes – and the body
heals – in response to certain information. We talk at length about oxytocin,
which David calls ‘the kindness hormone’, and how it’s the main contributor to heart
health outside exercise. And he explains why kindness is the opposite of – and
antidote to – stress.

If you’re feeling powerless, or that any efforts
you make at the moment are insignificant, I really hope that listening to this
podcast will help. It was recorded back in February, before the scale of this
pandemic could be known. And yet it feels timely to release it now, as a
reminder of what is within our control, when so many other factors aren’t.

Disclaimer: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.*

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Watch the video version of this interview in full below.

Connect with David:

Website     Twitter     Facebook     Instagram  

David’s books:



The
Five Side Effects of Kindness: This Book Will Make You Feel Better, Be Happier
& Live LongerWhy
Kindness is Good For YouHow Your Mind Can Heal Your
Body



David’s blogs on Kindness



Molecules of kindness
Born to be kind How kindness
can heal the bodyThe opposite of
stress Loving
kindness slows ageing at the genetic level Nature’s Catch 22



David’s blogs on Mind-Body connection



Do
drugs work better if we believe in them? Can we
visualise drugs working Real
vs Imaginary in the brain and body



Further Reading:



Patient Education and
Counseling – Perception
of Empathy in the Therapeutic Encounter: Effects on the Common ColdPsychologies – The
Mother Theresa EffectFrontiers in Neuroscience – Oxytocin-gaze
positive loop and the coevolution of human–dog bondsWebMD – Loneliness
Rivals Obesity, Smoking as Health RiskJournal of Abnormal Psychology
– Confronting
a traumatic event: Towards an understanding of inhibition and diseaseAssociation for Psychological
Science – Writing
about Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic ProcessJournal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology – Martial
Discord and Coronary Artery Disease: a comparison of behaviorally defined
discrete groupsPsychological Science – Spousal
Relationship Quality and Cardiovascular Risk: Dyadic Perceptions of
Relationship Ambivalence are Associated with Coronary CalcificationTime magazine – The
Brain: How the brain rewires itselfJournal of Neurophysiology – Modulation of muscle
responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation during the acquisition of
new fine motor skillsNeuropsychologia – From
mental power to muscle power—gaining strength by using the mindScience – Thought
for Food: Imagined Consumption Reduces Actual Consumption National Geographic – Stop
Food Cravings Through Imaginary Eating?Clinical Psychology Review – Loving-Kindness
and Compassion Meditation: Potential
for Psychological InterventionsThe New York Academy of Sciences – Can meditation
slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres



Dr Chatterjee’s resources:



Podcast #58 – How to Open Your Mind and Change Your Life with Dr Tara SwartPodcast #45 – Touch – The Forgotten Sense with Professor Francis McGlonePodcast #85 – Is it Time for a Tactical Break from Alcohol? With Andy RamageFind Dr Chatterjee’s 4 Pillar of Health in The 4 Pillar PlanAvailable in the US & Canada with the title How to Make Disease DisappearOrder Dr Chatterjee’s book The Stress Solution.Dr Chatterjee’s NEW book Feel Better in 5 is out now.

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*DISCLAIMER: Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

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