The Rabbit Effect

When Columbia University doctor Kelli Harding began her clinical practice, she never intended to explore the invisible factors behind our health. But then there were the rabbits. In 1978, a seemingly straightforward experiment designed to establish the relationship between high blood cholesterol and heart health in rabbits discovered that kindness - in the form of a particularly nurturing post-doc who pet and spoke to the lab rabbits as she fed them - made the difference between a heart attack and a healthy heart.

As Dr Kelli Harding reveals in this eye-opening audiobook, the rabbits were just the beginning of a much larger story. Groundbreaking new research shows that love, friendship, community and our environment can have a greater impact on our health than anything that happens in the doctor's office. For instance, chronic loneliness can be as unhealthy as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day; napping regularly can decrease one's risk of heart disease and people with purpose are less likely to get sick.