How gratitude can affect your physical and psychological well-being

Monday, November 11th, 2019

Saying thank-you and showing your appreciation does more good than you may think. This benefit accrues both to the giver and recipient. Indeed, these types of expressions and acts are powerful forms of gratitude.

Yet, while it may seem normal to be verbally appreciative at certain times and with specific people, there’s much more that you can get out of gratitude at other times.

Here’s a look at how gratitude can affect your physical and psychological well-being.

Gratitude promotes positive mind-sets and reduces stress

A 2017 study published in Scientific Reports looked at the effects of gratitude meditation and resentment and mental well-being.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and heart rate at three intervals – before, during, and after interventions – researchers suggest that gratitude interventions modulate heart rhythms in a manner that enhances mental health.

Gratitude intervention, said researchers, improves both emotional regulation and self-motivation by modulating resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in brain regions involving emotion and motivation.

Furthermore, researchers pointed to the potential use of gratitude interventions in treating those with mood disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Gratitude related to better sleep, mood, less fatigue and inflamation

Mills et al. (2015), in a study of patients with asymptomatic heart failure, found that an “attitude of gratitude” was related to better moods and sleep, less fatigue, reduced inflammation, and better cardiac-specific self-efficacy.

Authors said this is important because depressed mood and poor sleep are both associated with a worse prognosis in heart failure patients, as well as in other cardiac condition populations.

Thus, researchers said, the simple, low-cost efforts to help heart failure patients increase gratitude may have clinical value and be a potential target in treatment to improve patients’ well-being.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life… makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melodie Beattie

Gratitude predicts lower depression rates in patients with chronic illness

Sirois and Wood (2017) examined longitudinal associations of gratitude to depression in two chronic illness samples, one with inflammatory bowel disease, and the other with arthritis.

The study included two time points: completion of online survey at start of study (T1), and completion of a follow-up study at 6 months (T2).

There were assessments of gratitude, depression, perceived stress, social support, illness cognitions, and disease-related variables at both time points.

Study results showed that T1 gratitude was a “unique” and “significant” predictor of T2 depression in both sample groups.

Authors noted that gratitude has relevance and potential benefits as an intervention for adjusting to chronic illness.

Various elements of well-being associated with gratitude

A white paper on the science of gratitude prepared for the John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley highlights a number of studies showing possible connections between gratitude and various elements of well-being in those with self-reported higher dispositional gratitude.

These include life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, optimism, and subjective well-being.

Authors also mention studies of university students self-reporting higher-order gratitude also reporting increased life satisfaction and positive affect.

Examples of higher-order gratitude include thanking God, appreciating life’s hardships, cherishing the present, thanking others, and cherishing blessings. Continue reading