Why Self-Compassion Is Considered Very Good For Your Heart Health

Whether you believe in self-care or not, there’s something to be said about being kind to yourself.

Recent research shared how middle-aged women who took the time to practice self-compassion also had a lowered risk of ‘developing cardiovascular disease, irrespective of other traditional risk factors such as high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and cholesterol levels.’

According to professor of psychiatry, clinical and translational science, epidemiology, and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, Rebecca Thurston, Ph.D., “A lot of research had been focused on studying how stress and other negative factors may impact cardiovascular health, but the impact of positive psychological factors, such as self-compassion, is far less known.”

Such mindfulness practices like meditation, deep breathing and other simple exercises have gained major popularity in the United States amongst many adults. People have been struggling and are extremely fatigued due to non-stop work and personal life stress, which is why there has been a large increase in self-management, turning into one’s self to help manage their emotions and moods.

In the past two years alone, mostly due the coronavirus pandemic, stress has increased, more so in women than in men. Studies from a variety of groups all over the world have shown that women are the more affected by the ongoing pandemic since they have to care for both their children and their elderly relatives. In addition, women are also in charge of caring for other adults since America’s nursing workforce is mostly made up of females.

Clinical psychologists and counsellors have been suggesting to their clients to practice mindfulness and self-compassion as a tool to help deal with chronic stress. These techniques have proven to be effective in managing irritability, anxiety, and even mild depression.

But some experts wonder whether these practices have an actual physiological effect on the body. As for Dr. Thurston and her team, they created a study that included around 200 women between the ages of 45 to 67. The participants were asked to complete a short questionnaire that had them rate ‘how often they experience feelings of inadequacy, whether they often feel disappointed by their self-perceived flaws or if they grant themselves caring and tenderness during difficult life moments.’ The female participants were also given a standard diagnostic ultrasound of their carotid arteries which are major vessels within the neck that are tasked to carry blood from the heart to the brain.

What the scientists discovered is that the women that scored higher on the self-compassion scale were found to have thinner carotid artery walls and less plaque buildup as compared to those that scored lower. These same indicators are also linked to a lowered risk of developing cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes in later years.

As published in Health Psychology, the study results were found to be consistent even when the research group checked how controlling certain behaviors and other psychological factors that could possibly influence the outcome of cardiovascular disease, like smoking, physical activity and depressive symptoms.

Dr. Thurston explained, “These findings underscore the important of practicing kindness and compassion, particular towards yourself. We are all living through extraordinarily stressful times, and our research suggests that self-compassion is essential for both our mental and physical health.”