The power of gratitude: 5 ways practicing gratitude benefits the body and mind

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, chatter of thankfulness and gratitude will get louder before and shortly following the holiday. But there are mental and physical benefits to reap from regular practice of gratitude.
Practicing gratitude can actually change our brain patterns and “unshackles us from toxic emotions,” per Greater Good Magazine.
Brief daily gratitude practice, such as journaling about feelings of thankfulness, helps by “shifting one’s attention away from toxic emotions, such as resentment and envy,” a study published in the Journal of Psychotherapy Research found, per Greater Good Magazine.
“When you write about how grateful you are to others and how much other people have blessed your life, it might become considerably harder for you to ruminate on your negative experiences,” according the study.
Increasing gratitude can benefit the mind and body in several ways. Here are five.
Grateful people are happy people.
“In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions (and) relish good experiences,” per Harvard Health.
Spending just five minutes everyday journaling about what makes you grateful can increase long-term happiness by 10%, according to a study from Robert Emmons, a leading gratitude researcher, found in Positive Psychology in Practice.
“Highly grateful people, compared to their less grateful counterparts, tend to experience positive emotions more often, enjoy greater satisfaction with life and more hope,” per Positive Psychology in Practice.
Expressing gratitude can reduce anxiety and depression. Thankfulness is strongly associated with lower levels of depression, according to an analysis of 70 studies.
A study from the American Psychological Association found that participants who felt grateful and showed appreciation had significantly lower levels of cortisol, known as the stress hormone. These people were also better at managing stress and coping with emotional setbacks.
“When we acknowledge the small things in life, we can rewire our brain to deal with the present with more awareness and broader perception,” said Dr. Kristin Francis, a psychiatrist at Huntsman Mental Health Institute, per University of Utah Health.
Francis continued, “By reducing stress, gratitude reduces depression and anxiety. Keeping a gratitude journal or consistently verbalizing gratitude can help manage negative emotions like guilt and shame.”
Practicing gratitude can positively impact heart health as well.
An analysis from The Journal of Positive Psychology found that keeping a regular gratitude journal is linked to a “dramatic” drop in diastolic blood pressure — the pressure against your arteries when your heart is relaxed. Simply having grateful thoughts helped slow breathing and sync breath to heartbeat.
Another study, published by the journal of Spirituality in Clinical Practice, found that among those suffering from heart failure, increased gratitude led to improved symptoms and well-being.
“We found that more gratitude in these patients was associated with better mood, better sleep, less fatigue and lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers related to cardiac health,” said lead author Paul J. Mills, PhD, professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego, per The American Psychological Association.
Those who give thanks may experience improved sleep.
A study from the University of Manchester found that adults who practiced gratitude before going to bed fall asleep quicker and experienced a longer, more restful sleep.
On the flip side, getting more sleep might lead to increased gratitude.
A study from Baylor University found getting 46 minutes of extra sleep every night is “linked to improvements to overall well-being, including a beneficial impact on a person’s gratitude, flourishing, resilience and prosocial behaviors,” per Baylor University.
Romantic and platonic relationships can be strengthened through gratitude, studies show.
In a study focused on cohabitating couples, researchers found that when one partner expressed gratitude for the other, both partners reported feeling increased relationship satisfaction and quality.
“The little things may make a big difference within the daily lives of individuals in romantic relationships. Gratitude may help to turn ‘ordinary’ moments into opportunities for relationship growth, even in the context of already close, communal relations,” the study concluded.
Another study, focused on platonic relationships, researchers observed relationships between sorority sisters.
New sorority members were given gifts by older sorority members, the sorority sisters who expressed gratitude for the gifts were significantly more likely to report a strong bond with their gift giver compared to those who did not thank their gift giver.
Researchers noted that expressing gratitude “may function to promote relationship formation and maintenance.”