Studies consistently show that we feel happier when we perform acts of kindness – for our children, students, families, friends, and communities. Not only do good deeds make us feel better, they provide a more successful lifestyle (David Brooks, New York Times Nice Guys Finish First).

Students who performed acts of kindness with their peers, families and in the community had greater academic success than those who simply recorded seeing acts of kindness over a span of three months (Price-Mitchell, 2013).

Researchers have found that higher self-efficacy is linked to: 1) greater ability to think productively by applying positive thinking skills when facing a challenge; 2) higher motivation; 3) stronger effort put into an activity or task; greater resilience; and 4) lower vulnerability to stress and depression (Bandura, 2013).

An estimated 2 million 12- to 17-year-olds experience clinical depression annually, and Reivich and Gillham (2009) have found that building resilience in younger children can help thwart depression before it starts.

Harvard researchers Fowler and Christakis (2008) investigate the phenomenon known as Social Contagion which explores how behaviors and even emotions spread throughout a social network, even up to 3 degrees of separation. Performing random acts of kindness can have an impact on happiness within a social network up to 3 degrees of separation. Meaning, that if one person engages in an act of kindness, a person 3 degrees removed from that individual will benefit from its impact.

People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon (Fowler & Christakis, 2008; 2012). For example, bullying is a potential source of unhappiness for young students and also for those individuals surrounding the student. Providing opportunities to better understand and experience kindness might not only improve their happiness but also the happiness of numerous others, thereby further validating the benefits of the Life Vest Inside Kindness Curriculum.

Children who learn about and experience kindness tend to have stronger relationships with others because of their ability to empathize with how others feel. It is an important social skill that lasts throughout a lifetime and is seminal in adolescent and adult years (Hughes, 2013).

Kindness can reduce stress as well as the activation of autonomic and immune pathways that have been implicated in the development of a host of chronic, stress-related illnesses, including depression, heart disease, and diabetes (Dodson-Lavelle, 2008).

Engaging in kind acts allows students to get involved in seminal developmental activities that builds a greater sense of togetherness. The connectedness, rooted in kindness, fosters fondness and compassion toward one another.

Helping can enhance our feelings of joyfulness, emotional resilience, and vigor, and can reduce the unhealthy sense of isolation. The health benefits and sense of well-being return for hours or even days whenever the helping act is remembered. Additionally, more kindness = less pain; a decrease in both the intensity and the awareness of physical pain can occur. (Luk, 2001).

Experiencing and performing acts of kindness provide an increased sense of self-worth, greater happiness, and optimism, as well as a decrease in feelings of helplessness and depression, is achieved (Luk, 2001).

Kindness benefits the nervous system. The longest nerve in the human body the vagus nerve, which controls inflammation in the body, plays a role in keeping your cardiovascular system healthy. Studies show that people who practice compassion have a more active vagus nerve, leading a healthier life (Hamilton, 2010).