The Science of Gratitude

Unravel the intricate tapestry of gratitude, a potent emotion that shapes our lives in profound ways. Explore the scientific underpinnings of this powerful sentiment, its impact on our mental health, and how it can be harnessed for a more fulfilling existence.

Nourish a Grateful Body

There are more dimensions to gratitude than meets the eye

• Trait gratitude refers to whether people have a natu- rally grateful personality
• Gratitude as a mood, which tracks daily fluctuations in gratitude, is an emotion
• The practice of gratitude and the interventions used in their studies are activities designed to boost gratitude as an emotion or mood

A Brain Built On Gratitude

Writing gratitude interventions have found benefits for mental health and well-being, as well as boosting self-esteem and feeling satisfied and satisfied in life

• Practice gratitude letters or journals to increase self-confidence and self-efficacy, and feel better about yourself

Take a restorative moment to release tension and feel deeply into gratitude for your hard-working body

Rashid Hughes

• How taking the time to appreciate moments of joy and connection transformed author Jane Anne Staw’s life-and her relationship with the world, one small encounter at a time.

The Science: Boost Immunity and Heart Health

Research published in the last decade has shown that grateful people (those who have “trait gratitude”) have fewer common health complaints, including headaches, digestion issues, respiratory infections, runny noses, dizziness, and sleep problems.

Practice: Make Healthier Choices

Gratitude can also encourage us to fuel our bodies with nourishing foods

• Research shows grateful people report better physical health because they tend to engage in healthy activities such as focusing on nutrition
• “We have found that getting people to express gratitude could help them work toward healthier eating behaviors, like more fruits and vegetables and less junk food.”

Being grateful can support greater health, happiness, and wisdom in ourselves and our communities

Gratitude offers us a way of embracing all that makes our lives what they are

• Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and one of the world’s leading experts on the science of gratitude, defines gratitude as an affirmation of goodness
• People can learn to wake up to the good around them and notice the gifts they have received
• The second part of gratitude is recognizing that the source of goodness rests outside of oneself-that we receive these gifts from other people, and sometimes from a higher power

The Science: Feel Happier

One study found that people who wrote down three things that went well in their day and identified the causes of those good things were significantly happier and less depressed, even six months after the study ended.

• Another type of written gratitude practice is counting blessings, or “Three Good Things.”
• People who wrote about three positive things in a day also reported feeling happier and more optimistic.

Why Practice: Deepen Resilience

Enduring gratitude is not just about happiness and positivity; it doesn’t require you to ignore or stifle negative emotions.

Thankful to Those We Love

Gratitude may also help strengthen ties with friends, loved ones, and those in our wider communities.

• The find-remind-bind theory suggests that gratitude can help people identify good candidates for a new relationship (find), appreciate existing relationships (remind), and motivate people to maintain or invest in these relationships (bind).

The Science: Stronger Connections

Social connection is likely key to well-being

• Gratitude might have social implications by motivating individuals to improve themselves
• Students who expressed gratitude had a mixed experience: they felt “elevated” and “indebted”
• Immediately after writing gratitude letters, students also felt motivated to improve their own self-esteem
• Find-remind-bind theory suggests that expressing gratitude may prompt individuals to pay back the kindness they have received and can also motivate a person to make decisions that strengthen their relationships

How It Works: Calm the Nervous System

Physiological changes associated with gratitude are typically a reduction in blood pressure and increase in vagal tone, which is taken as an index of increased parasympathetic influence on the peripheral nervous system.

• A study of heart-failure patients who were randomly assigned to either an eight-week gratitude-journaling group or a treatment-as-usual group found that patients in the gratitude group showed more paraspathetic heart-rate variability, a sign of better heart health.

How It Works: Better Communication

Gratitude also plays an important role in maintaining romantic relationships, acting as a “booster shot” to remind us why our partners are valuable and worth holding onto.

• By practicing gratitude, couples can initiate a cycle of generosity-one partner’s gratitude inspires the other to act in a way that reaffirms their commitment.

Why Practice?

It’s Better Together

• Gratitude has made Randi Joy’s family closer
• Cultivating gratitude can open the door to a different perspective
• With practice, we can learn to see the bigger picture and navigate adversity with greater resilience

Strengthen Positive Recall

Strengthening your positive recall bias makes it easier to see the good things around you even when times are dark

• Nancy Davis Kho, author of the book The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time, encourages those writing gratitude letters to find “the creative people whose work carries you beyond yourself, whose vision helps you clarify your own, whose talent and hard work have combined to create a body of work that brings you simple joy.”

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