The Science of Gratitude
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https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/11/25/profound-health-benefits-of-being-grateful.aspx?ui=db1c8443091da8e5adafcb987fb464e0897952a7a94345dffa47df648a2295a5&;sd=20120913&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20211125Z1&mid=DM1042411&rid=1332412060
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JMd1CcGZYwU?wmode=transparent&;rel=0&enablejsapi=1
The ability to experience gratitude to others is a fundamental feature of human cognition
Positive effects linked to gratitude include social, psychological and physical benefits, which increase the more you make gratitude a regular part of your daily routine
Gratitude has a positive effect on psychopathology, especially depression, adaptive personality characteristic, positive social relationships and physical health, including stress and sleep
Those who are grateful have even been found to have a better sense of the meaning of life by being able to perceive good family function and peer relationships
Two gratitude interventions that you can try in your daily life to promote gratitude include keeping a gratitude journal and expressing gratitude to others, such as by writing thank you notes
Gratitude is a simple practice that can have profound effects on your health and well-being. Its underpinnings are believed to be principles of cooperation that were pivotal in the development of human communication and social reciprocity, and the ability to experience gratitude to others is a fundamental feature of human cognition.1
The positive effects linked to gratitude include social, psychological and physical benefits,2 which increase the more you make gratitude a regular part of your daily routine.
“The limits to gratitude’s health benefits are really in how much you pay attention to feeling and practicing gratitude,” noted neuroscientist Glenn Fox, Ph.D., a gratitude expert at the University of Southern California. “It’s very similar to working out, in that the more you practice, the better you get. The more you practice, the easier it is to feel grateful when you need it.”3
How Gratitude Changes Your Brain
Gratitude has distinct neurobiological correlates, including in brain regions associated with interpersonal bonding and stress relief.4 When Fox and colleagues elicited gratitude in 23 female subjects, via stories of survivors of the Holocaust, “ratings of gratitude correlated with brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex,” which are associated with moral cognition, value judgment and theory of mind.5
Individual differences in proneness to gratitude are also linked to increased gray matter volume in the brain,6 and it’s possible that it elicits long-term changes in your psyche. Fox grew deeply interested in gratitude after his mother’s death from ovarian cancer. During her illness, he would send her studies on the benefits of gratitude in cancer patients, and she kept a gratitude journal in her last years.
In one example, 92 adults with advanced cancer engaged in mindful gratitude journaling or routine journaling. After seven days, those who kept a gratitude journal had significant improvements in measures of anxiety, depression and spiritual well-being, such that the researchers concluded “mindful gratitude journaling could positively affect the state of suffering, psychological distress and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer.”7
“Grateful people tend to recover faster from trauma and injury,” Fox told The Pulse. “They tend to have better and closer personal relationships and may even just have improved health overall.”8 When he tried to find gratitude after losing his mother, what he experienced wasn’t a quick fix or an immediate route to happiness, but a way to make his grief more manageable in the moment.
As it turns out, grateful writing such as letters of gratitude is a positive psychological intervention that leads to longer term changes in mental health. Among 293 adults who sought out psychotherapy services, those who engaged in gratitude writing reported significantly better mental health after four and 12 weeks than people who did not writing or who wrote about their thoughts and feelings.
Also...
Gratitude Boosts Health, Well-Being
Gratitude Could Help You Sleep Better, Be Less Materialistic
Positive Gratitude Interventions
The Profound Health Benefits of Being Grateful
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JMd1CcGZYwU?wmode=transparent&;rel=0&enablejsapi=1
The ability to experience gratitude to others is a fundamental feature of human cognition
Positive effects linked to gratitude include social, psychological and physical benefits, which increase the more you make gratitude a regular part of your daily routine
Gratitude has a positive effect on psychopathology, especially depression, adaptive personality characteristic, positive social relationships and physical health, including stress and sleep
Those who are grateful have even been found to have a better sense of the meaning of life by being able to perceive good family function and peer relationships
Two gratitude interventions that you can try in your daily life to promote gratitude include keeping a gratitude journal and expressing gratitude to others, such as by writing thank you notes
Gratitude is a simple practice that can have profound effects on your health and well-being. Its underpinnings are believed to be principles of cooperation that were pivotal in the development of human communication and social reciprocity, and the ability to experience gratitude to others is a fundamental feature of human cognition.1
The positive effects linked to gratitude include social, psychological and physical benefits,2 which increase the more you make gratitude a regular part of your daily routine.
“The limits to gratitude’s health benefits are really in how much you pay attention to feeling and practicing gratitude,” noted neuroscientist Glenn Fox, Ph.D., a gratitude expert at the University of Southern California. “It’s very similar to working out, in that the more you practice, the better you get. The more you practice, the easier it is to feel grateful when you need it.”3
How Gratitude Changes Your Brain
Gratitude has distinct neurobiological correlates, including in brain regions associated with interpersonal bonding and stress relief.4 When Fox and colleagues elicited gratitude in 23 female subjects, via stories of survivors of the Holocaust, “ratings of gratitude correlated with brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex,” which are associated with moral cognition, value judgment and theory of mind.5
Individual differences in proneness to gratitude are also linked to increased gray matter volume in the brain,6 and it’s possible that it elicits long-term changes in your psyche. Fox grew deeply interested in gratitude after his mother’s death from ovarian cancer. During her illness, he would send her studies on the benefits of gratitude in cancer patients, and she kept a gratitude journal in her last years.
In one example, 92 adults with advanced cancer engaged in mindful gratitude journaling or routine journaling. After seven days, those who kept a gratitude journal had significant improvements in measures of anxiety, depression and spiritual well-being, such that the researchers concluded “mindful gratitude journaling could positively affect the state of suffering, psychological distress and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer.”7
“Grateful people tend to recover faster from trauma and injury,” Fox told The Pulse. “They tend to have better and closer personal relationships and may even just have improved health overall.”8 When he tried to find gratitude after losing his mother, what he experienced wasn’t a quick fix or an immediate route to happiness, but a way to make his grief more manageable in the moment.
As it turns out, grateful writing such as letters of gratitude is a positive psychological intervention that leads to longer term changes in mental health. Among 293 adults who sought out psychotherapy services, those who engaged in gratitude writing reported significantly better mental health after four and 12 weeks than people who did not writing or who wrote about their thoughts and feelings.
Also...
Gratitude Boosts Health, Well-Being
Gratitude Could Help You Sleep Better, Be Less Materialistic
Positive Gratitude Interventions
The Profound Health Benefits of Being Grateful
Keywords
immune systemgratitudewell being
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