Daily Brain Snack: Just One Week of Micro-Acts of Kindness Improves Wellbeing
Small acts of "micro-joy" over only one week saw significant improvements in multiple wellbeing ratings
You have a major focus on wellbeing with your SCOAP model don’t you?
Yes, indeed SCOAP is a general model but focuses on “big-ticket” items and this research just out fascinated me because it focuses on small interventions.
Micro interventions can have surprisingly large effects in multiple areas in life and business. For example, small breaks allow your brain to consolidate information and learn better, micro learning interventions are also effective because the brain can process the information without getting tired, even micro-bouts of exercise (e.g. doing a few bodyweight squats very hour or so) have been shown to be effective in improving physical health.
What was this research?
This was an impressively large-scale study tracking 17’598 people from 169 different countries and territories with on online project. In this participants were encouraged to engage in 5-10 minute micro acts of joy for 7 days only. They self-reported on their activities and on various ratings of their own wellbeing.
5-10 minutes isn’t much!
Indeed, considering we are often encouraged to do more intensive activities such as engage in mediation for long periods or always monitor our gratitude, this is very short.
Can you give me an example of what a micro-act of joy might be?
Sure, they are things like celebrate another’s joy, do something kind, make a gratitude list, or dwell on awe (the full list and prompts by the researchers is at the bottom). The participants could self select what they did which also make it easier - each individual can do what they find best or most impactful.
And what were the results?
The results were impressive especially considering they were small acts and this only being conducted for a week:
Moderate increase in emotional well-being
Moderate increase in positive emotions
Moderate increase in happiness agency (being in control of your happiness)
Moderate decrease in perceived stress
Small increase in perceived health
Small improvement in sleep quality
All in, very impressive indeed. What is more impressive is that this was dose dependent i.e. those that engaged in more micro-acts received a larger benefit. It should be noted also that populations at a larger disadvantage showed greater benefits across all outcomes.
So engage in micro acts of joy!
Maybe set yourself a time limit because it make it easier to commit to - like in this study. Consciously engage in micro-acts for a week and see how you feel.
We do know that engaging in positive acts to others activates similar reward centre patterns in the brain as receiving the reward yourself. Indeed social connections is a fundamental for brain health.
And in business?
Yes, micro-acts of joy would be more than welcome in business. All models including our own show that appreciation is a valuable motivator and decreases stress. Don’t feel that just because it is business it has to be different (I’ve seen this by implementing similar programmes in businesses).
A little joyful act goes a long way - for others, and yourself.
Micro Acts of Joy
Celebrate another’s joy.
This prompted people to find someone to talk to and asked them to share a fun, inspiring, or proud moment. (Takes approximately 5 min)Shift your perspective.
This prompted people to think and write of a recent time when they felt frustrated, upset, or anxious and then write 3 positive things that came out of it. (Takes approximately 8 min)Do something kind.
This prompted people to think of up to 5 individuals they might see that day and list 1 thing that they could do to brighten the person’s day. (Takes approximately 10 min)Tune in to what matters.
This prompted people to rank 4 values (virtue, fairness, goodwill, and unity) in order of importance and then write about how the values appear in their life. (Takes approximately 10 min)Make a gratitude list.
This prompted people to think, reflect, and list up to 8 things or people they feel grateful for. (Takes approximately 10 min)Dwell in awe.
This prompted people to watch an awe-inspiring video on Yosemite and reflect on what they liked and felt when watching it. (Takes approximately 6 min)Be a force of good.
This prompted people to listen to an audio-guided reflection on how they can contribute goodness to the world. (Takes approximately 8 min)
Reference
Guevarra DA, Park Y, Xu X, Liou J, Smith J, Callahan P, Simon-Thomas E, Epel ES
Scaling a Brief Digital Well-Being Intervention (the Big Joy Project) and Sociodemographic Moderators: Single-Group Pre-Post Study
J Med Internet Res 2025;27:e72053
doi: 10.2196/72053