Care2 Healthy Living/Zoe Blarowski: 7 Proven Health Benefits of Forgiveness

Care2 Healthy Living | 7 Proven Health Benefits of Forgiveness
7 Proven Health Benefits of Forgiveness
tweet
email
21

    By: Zoe Blarowski
    July 6, 2018

    About Zoe

July 7th is Global Forgiveness Day. It’s an excellent time to reflect on the importance of forgiveness and what forgiveness means to you. Forgiveness can be a difficult concept for many of us. It may feel like forgiving someone means we’re giving them permission to behave badly, and they don’t deserve our forgiveness.

In fact, forgiveness simply refers to letting go of negative or painful emotions about a person who has hurt you. It doesn’t mean you’re condoning their behavior. Sometimes it may be appropriate to stop having contact with a person because of their hurtful actions. Regardless of whether or not the person is currently in your life, you can still forgive them.

Forgiveness helps rid you of painful emotions you may be carrying, which is a benefit in itself. But letting go of feelings of resentment, anger or judgement towards others has also been shown to have a wide range of other health benefits.

Related: 5 Steps to Forgiving Someone Who Has Hurt You
HEALTH BENEFITS OF FORGIVENESS
1. Boosts Immune System

Forgiveness has been shown to enhance the production of antibodies, which increases the effectiveness of your immune system. Forgiveness can also help reduce the amount of adrenaline and cortisol your body releases. These two hormones are known to lower your production of natural killer cells, which in turn will suppress your immune system. Whereas, studies on HIV patients found that those who went through a process of forgiveness had higher levels of immune cells and improved immunity.
2. Strengthens Relationships

Research has discovered that forgiveness works in a variety of ways to promote happier, healthier relationships. It reduces the tendency to retaliate against someone who has hurt you and replaces that with a sense of empathy and understanding towards others. It’s been shown that this attitude of forgiveness promotes stronger, longer-lasting and more supportive relationships. And the outcome of relationships that foster forgiveness is a greater sense of wellbeing and happiness in life.
Be healthy. Be loving.

Get daily tips for leading a healthy and compassionate life delivered to your inbox.
3. Improves Sleep

Improved sleep quality has been linked to forgiveness. You’ve likely experienced this yourself – have you ever been kept awake by angry thoughts towards another person? This is nothing to beat yourself up about, but the sooner you can let go of the anger and resentment you feel towards that person, the faster you can start sleeping soundly again.
4. Lightens Your Load Physically

Two studies from Erasmus University investigated how forgiveness can change your physical perceptions and abilities. In both studies, participants were asked to write about a time they could either forgive, or not forgive, someone who had hurt them.

The first study brought the participants to the base of a hill and asked them to estimate its steepness. The forgiving group perceived the hill to be less steep than those who could not forgive. The second study asked participants to jump in place five times. On average, those who had written about forgiveness jumped higher than those who lacked forgiveness.

These studies show that forgiveness can actually change how we perceive physical challenges, such as going up a hill. And we may be able to physically perform better when we lighten our emotional load by forgiving others.

Related: 9 Ways Cultivating Gratitude Benefits Your Health
5. Helps Trauma Recovery

Research by Dr. Fred Luskin, director and cofounder of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, found that forgiveness can even help recovery from severely traumatic events. He surveyed adults from Northern Ireland who had lost family members to the violent conflicts in that area. He found that people who were taught to forgive became less angry and stressed overall. They also gained more optimism, compassion and self-confidence.
6. Supports Heart Health

An attitude of forgiveness has been shown to reduce blood pressure and heart rate. Forgiveness is also linked to a greater release of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin is sometimes called the “love hormone” because it enhances many positive emotions and strengthens social bonding. But part of oxytocin’s feel-good action includes lowering blood pressure and heart rate. This could be one reason why forgiveness gives your heart a boost, both physically and emotionally.
7. Improves Cognitive Function

Researchers have also examined the effects of forgiveness on the brain. When someone is feeling forgiving, brain scans reveal higher activity in the frontal lobe of the brain. Among other things, this area of the brain is responsible for problem-solving and morality, as well as higher functions of thinking and reasoning.

Whereas, a University of Pisa study found that emotions such as anger and vengeance inhibit rational thinking and increase activity in the amygdala, which is the area in your brain responsible for the “flight or fight” response.
TIPS ON PRACTICING FORGIVENESS
1. Keep It Real

Many studies have highlighted the importance of practicing forgiveness from your heart, not your head. For instance, research has found that conditional forgiveness is linked to a higher risk of early death. Conditional forgiveness refers to expecting something from a person before you forgive them, such as an apology or compensation.

Interestingly, the same study found that believing in a forgiving God also did not improve your longevity. It appears that as long as you view forgiveness as something outside of yourself, you won’t get the benefits. Forgiveness needs to come from within.

Another study compared those who logically decided to forgive to those who worked on forgiveness from an emotional level. Those who emotionally forgave others had distinct psychophysiological changes as well as greater benefits to health and wellbeing compared to those who approached forgiveness mentally.
2. Do It Regularly

Forgiveness isn’t a one-time action. A lifetime of cultivating forgiveness will bring the most benefits. Try doing this brief forgiveness exercise each day:

    Bring to mind a person who offended or hurt you.
    Sit with the feelings this brings up for a few moments, but then bring awareness to the fact this event was in the past. There is nothing you can do now to change what happened.
    Do your best to embrace what you learned from the situation and let go of the rest.
    Commit to moving forward today without the emotional baggage left by a past event you cannot change.

This is a great exercise to do before bed to help clear your mind for a peaceful sleep.
Related on Care2

    7 Proven Health Benefits of Prayer
    How Love Can Help Conquer Addictions
    5 Ways Spending Time in Nature Benefits Your Brain


GREAT STORY, RIGHT?
Share it with your friends
tweet
email
CONNECT WITH US

    Facebook 1.1 million followers
    Twitter 560,000 followers
    Pinterest 30,000 followers
    Email Newsletter

EMAIL THE EDITORS
You Might Also Like

    10 Big Tech Stocks That Are Surprising Bargains Right Now 10 Big Tech Stocks That Are Surprising Bargains Right Now Trendingstock Today
    New Site Finds the Cheapest Flights in Seconds! New Site Finds the Cheapest Flights in Seconds! TripsShop.com

    Minimalism Is a Debt-Demolishing Lifestyle (Here’s Why) Minimalism Is a Debt-Demolishing Lifestyle (Here’s Why)
    Celebrate! Pruitt Is (FINALLY) Out of the EPA! Celebrate! Pruitt Is (FINALLY) Out of the EPA!

    Can Susan Collins Really Derail the Next Supreme Court Appointment? Can Susan Collins Really Derail the Next Supreme Court Appointment?
    How a Russian Law Normalizes and Legalizes Domestic Violence How a Russian Law Normalizes and Legalizes Domestic Violence

Recommended by
21 comments
Elizabeth H
Elizabeth H5 minutes ago

Some things can't be forgiven, don't let it fester just steer clear.
SEND
Beryl Ludwig
Beryl L7 minutes ago

Thank you this is a very mature and helpful things to do in life.
SEND
Rebekka Hass
Rebekka Habout an hour ago

Thank you for sharing.
SEND
Janis K
Janis Kabout an hour ago

Thanks for sharing.
SEND
Lisa M
Lisa M1 hours ago

Noted.
SEND
Lisa M
Lisa M1 hours ago

Noted.
SEND
Delia F
Delia F2 hours ago

Thanks
SEND
Ann B
Ann B2 hours ago

Hard to do---people are not the same as they were 50 years ago---especially living with an addict or someone with emotional problems
SEND
Janet B
Janet B3 hours ago

Thanks
SEND
Sherry K
Sherry K3 hours ago

Many thanks to you !
SEND
view all 21 comments
TOP STORIES

    1
    Natural Alternatives to Beeswax (Because Bees Need Their Wax to Build Hives)
    2
    Foods Proven to Lower Cholesterol
    3
    Should We Take DHA Supplements to Boost Brain Function?
    4
    Why You Should Ditch Your Retractable Dog Leash Today
    5
    The Vitamin that May Stop Brain Cell Death in Parkinson's Disease

ads keep care2 free
learn more ▸
ads keep care2 free
learn more ▸
COMMUNITY SUCCESS!
Success! Senate Passes Farm Bill Without Steve King's Terrible Amendment

The future of agriculture in the United States depends on the 2018 Farm Bill, according to the...
more
"The best way to predict the future is to create it!"
- Dennis Gabor
Start A Petition

    Home
    Start a Petition
    Sign Petitions
    Petition Successes

    Care2 Causes
    Healthy Living
    Petition Help

Trending Petition Topics

    Animal Rights
    Children's Rights
    Civil Rights
    Corporate Accountability
    Education

    Environment
    Health
    Human Rights
    International Development
    LGBTQ Rights

    Media, Arts, Culture
    Politics
    Reproductive Rights
    Wildlife
    Women's Rights

Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.
You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
Follow

    HomeAbout UsPartnershipsMedia InquiryPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceContact UsHelp

Copyright © 2018 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors.All rights reserved
site feedback
site feedback

    log in / Join

    Start A Petition
    Sign Petition
    CARE2 Home
    healthy living
        Food +Recipes
        Health
        Love + Sex
        Green
        News
        Crafts
        Ecards
        Brands forGood
        Nature
        Pets
        Spirit
        Home
        Life
        Family
        Beauty
    causes & news
    Success Stories
    butterfly rewards

New to Care2? Start Here.

    About Us
    Care2 Team Blog