Feeling anxious? Can’t sleep? Can’t concentrate? Tired and cranky? It happens to everyone from time to time. But the good news is, curbing your anxiety is easier than you think. In fact, it might be as simple as saying ‘Thank you’.
A little kindness goes a long way
Anxiety tends to make us more introspective and less socially engaged. Scientists have found that people who are more self-focused experience greater levels of anxiety. So, to see if the opposite was also true, two psychologists from the University of British Columbia decided to test whether acts of kindness might help alleviate social anxiety.
Jennifer Trew and Lynn Alden divided 115 socially anxious college students into three groups.
The first group were asked to engage in three acts of kindness a day, two days a week, over a period of four weeks. Examples included washing a roommate’s dishes, mowing a neighbour’s lawn or donating to charity.
The second group was asked to engage in social situations such as asking a stranger for the time, talking with a neighbour, or inviting someone to lunch. The subjects in this group were also instructed to do deep-breathing exercises beforehand to make their tasks easier.
The third group acted as a control, and was merely asked to keep a diary of personal events.
The first group, who engaged in acts of kindness, subsequently experienced significantly fewer instances of avoiding social situations because of fear of rejection or conflict, than those in the other groups.
Trew and Alden concluded that acts of kindness might help to strengthen social relationships, increase social engagement, and broaden social networks.
An optimistic outlook
Engaging in acts of kindness was also linked to optimism in another study, where scientists found that the volume of grey matter in a particular part of the brain, behind the left eye, was linked with increased optimism and decreased anxiety. The higher the volume of grey matter there, the more optimistic the person.
The hope is that specifically designed cognitive therapies might boost optimism in particularly anxious people, to help alleviate their emotional distress. In the meantime, if you’re looking to lower your own anxiety, try a little kindness.