A simple act of kindness, like holding a door for a stranger, a friendly pat on the back, or chatting good-naturedly in the checkout line at the market, triggers a positive cascade of neurology and neurochemistry that’s potentially contagious. Hopefully contagious.
Even brief bouts of connecting with others kindly fire up the brain’s ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) or PFC for short. The PFC is the part of the brain behind our forehead that’s active when we perceive that we’re safe. This is the neural circuitry that allows us to be caring, cooperative, and compassionate, rather than defensive or aggressive, and the part that allows us to think before we act.
In the absence of safety, the emotional brain’s amygdala and its reactive survival patterns control us. When we’re reacting in thoughtless or unkind ways the amygdala is driving our experience.
The fact that an act of kindness causes significant changes in our brain may not be surprising, but knowing that these changes can be lasting and reflected in neuron growth, or positive neuroplasticity, may be new information.
The Value of a Larger and More Active Prefrontal Cortex
We might think of this part of the brain as akin to a muscle, in that the more it’s used the more it becomes capable. The difference is that it’s neuron growth that’s reflected by increased neuron density in the PFC.
Here’s another muscle metaphor. Muscles can have an antagonistic relationship with one another. For example, when the bicep muscle contracts, the tricep on the back of your upper arm must let go, or be inhibited, or the bicep can’t move your arm. The PFC has this kind of antagonistic relationship with the amygdala in your limbic brain.
Again, the amygdala not only fuels negative emotional reactions and behaviors but is part of a larger autonomic nervous system (ANS) imbalance that fuels stress and trauma-related symptoms.
When we think of ANS fueled symptoms of stress, we might think of the occasional headache or heartburn connected to a stressful conversation. Think bigger. Think epidemic.
A 2004 Center for Disease Control (CDC) funded study by Segerstrom and Miller from the University of Louisville revealed that 85% of primary care doctor visits were for stress- induced symptoms. Remember, that stress-induced symptoms are caused by disruptions in the ANS triggered by threat.
Newer research that’s reported on the website of the Psychophysiologic Disease Association (PPDA) shows that chronic back pain, which is a 264 billion dollar a year industry in the U.S. is primarily stress-induced and has little to do with structural changes in your spine. Structural changes are commonplace and akin to gray hair. They reflect normal aging processes but rarely cause pain.
A 2021 CDC study using the National Health Interview Survey reveals a stress-induced epidemic showing that 20% of Americans, 51 million individuals, suffer from chronic pain.
The landmark 2021 Boulder Back Pain study shows that interventions involving the mind and emotions, rather than physical interventions alone, is the most effective treatment for most back pain.
My personal experience as both a manual therapist and acupuncturist is that physical interventions, including yoga, chiropractic, and others, are helpful as long as the emotional component and bodily awareness are included also. Unfortunately, many body oriented approaches with an emphasis on ‘fixing’ rather then ‘supporting’ the client’s inner healing process, simply ignore the emotional component.
The value of having a larger and more active prefrontal cortex is because the more active it is, the more inhibited the amygdala will be and its ability to generate dysregulated emotional states and related damaging behaviors, like interpersonal violence and addiction.
Another plus of having the PFC intact and inhibiting the amygdala is that it supports a more balanced ANS in support of physical healing and well-being as opposed to fueling our epidemic of stress-induced chronic illness and inflammation.
How Kindness is Contagious
Our culture encourages us to think of ourselves as separate individuals, yet the concept of individuality doesn’t reflect how connected we are neurologically and energetically. Our nervous systems are constantly monitoring the neural and emotional states of those around us through the unconscious process of neuroception.
The ANS is constantly monitoring our internal and external environments for elements of safety or threat. It’s always poised to fire up either the amygdala if we’re threatened or the PFC if we’re perceived as safe.
When I’m exhibiting a degree of kindness, through word, gesture, or behavior, my PFC becomes more active and that neural activity can be registered by another’s neuroception. Then, that individual’s neural perception of safety, a mirroring of my own internal state, gives them a direct experience of that autonomic state, and with it new possibilities emotionally, physically, and behaviorally.
I’m suggesting that when we choose kindness we’re also choosing a neurology that’s potentially infectious on an emotional level. Our choice to be kind, or caring, or pleasantly socially engaged can be a neural invitation to others to experience and interact in a similar way.
Kindness isn’t just a transitory mood or feeling, but a neurological state, a more balanced ANS that fosters emotional well-being and improved physiological balance.
We Can Help Ourselves and Others
Here’s a brief review.
Kindness, caring, compassion, and cooperation are states of mind, as well as neurological states that are defined by discreet neural circuitry and neurochemistry. Likewise, less desirable states like being bitter, antagonistic, fearful, or vengeful are also grounded in our neurological landscape.
The new science around the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is that while it’s programmed by ancestral or early life stress and trauma to mold our emotional and physical health, its programming can be amended, or updated.
How we are isn’t etched in stone, but rather reflected in circuitry that is amenable to being amended. With a bit of practice, we can learn to shift our neurological gears along with our emotional and even physical states.
Ideally, we can choose to be kind, we can remember to be kind. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done because our amygdalae are so conditioned to hijack our PFC because of perceived threats, based on ancestral, cultural, and personal traumas.
‘Safety’ is the missing and transformative experience that ultimately allows the amygdala to rest and the PFC to light up and make us happier, healthier, and better neighbors.
It happens that mindfulness isn’t just a state of awareness, but it too has its own neural circuitry that we’re already familiar with. The mindfulness circuit is the vmPFC.
You can always learn to sit and do a mindfulness meditation if that works for you. You may have other more preferred ‘safety’ and PFC activators, like walking in the woods, singing, listening to music, making pottery with your hands, or whatever.
The key element linking any of these ‘safety’ generators is that we experience them mindfully, in a felt, embodied way that reaches the depths of our brain.
Steve is a retired Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, and HeartMath Trauma-Sensitive Certified Practitioner with over 35 years of clinical experience in Energy Medicine, Energy Psychology, and Biofeedback.