If you are kind, you live longer

Those who are not strong must be smart, was the motto. But we can scratch smart and change it to ‘being nice’, because that is the best survival strategy. Darwin is said to have mentioned this already.

Aside from the fact that being nice is simply a beautiful trait, it also has countless benefits for yourself.

1. Helper’s high
Do you know that wonderful feeling when you’ve put a card in the mail, ordered a bouquet of flowers for your colleague who is having a tough time, or placed a pot of soup at the door of your old neighbor? That’s called helper’s high. You produce dopamine through your act of love and that gives you a nice feeling.

2. It reduces stress
Being nice lowers cortisol levels (nice people produce 23 percent less of this stress hormone), so it works stress-reducing. And because you have less cortisol in your body, you also live longer and age more slowly. Ha!

3. What goes around comes around
Being nice is contagious (just smile at someone, and they will smile back at you), so if you’ve sent that bouquet of flowers, you’ll likely receive one back. And receiving is almost as fun as giving, of course. Almost.

4. You produce happy hormones
Being nice not only chases away that pesky stress hormone, but you also produce oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. A free trip, you know.

5. The nicer you are, the better you feel
So let it flow, the whole world gets better from it, and so do you.