Can Kindness Reduce Stress And Promote Health In A High Stress Environment

Kindness in the Healthcare Workplace

Can kindness reduce stress and promote health in a high-stress environment?

One doctor thinks so.

The healthcare workplace is a high-stress environment. All stakeholders including patients and providers display evidence of that stress. Its well-known that stress causes and/or exacerbates many diseases particularly common problems like cardiovascular disease asthma and depression.

David Fryburg MD is a physician a scientist a self-described nerd and the co-founder of Envision Kindness a nonprofit organization.

In his blog post "Kindness as a Stress Reduction/Health Promotion Intervention A Review of the Psychobiology of Caring," Fryburg argues that kindness can be a powerful tool for reducing stress and promoting health.

"Kindness is an other-oriented behavior that is motivated by a desire to help others," Fryburg writes. "It can be expressed in a variety of ways, such as through acts of compassion, empathy, and forgiveness."

Fryburg cites a number of studies that have shown that kindness can have a positive impact on both physical and mental health. For example, one study found that people who engaged in acts of kindness had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. Another study found that people who were exposed to kindness were more likely to experience positive emotions and less likely to experience negative emotions.

Fryburg believes that kindness can be a valuable tool for promoting health in the healthcare workplace. He suggests that healthcare providers can incorporate kindness into their interactions with patients and colleagues in a number of ways, such as:

• Expressing gratitude to patients and colleagues
• Offering compliments
• Listening attentively to patients and colleagues
• Being forgiving of mistakes
• Helping out colleagues when they are busy

Fryburg acknowledges that kindness can be difficult to practice in a high-stress environment, but he believes that it is worth the effort. "Kindness," he writes, "has the power to make the workplace a more positive and healthy place for everyone."