Gratitude can have a lot of benefits for mental and physical health. A few studies back this up. Let’s be grateful and talk about just a few of them here.
In a study by Robert Emmons at UC Davis in California, he asked a group of participants; to list things they were grateful for; the other group focused on problems and setbacks that had happened that day. The gratitude group saw a 25% improvement in their health and wellbeing, including having more energy, enjoying better quality sleep, and getting fewer aches and pains. They were also more optimistic about their health than the group that concentrated on the negatives.
Other physical effects can include lower stress levels and a reduction in cortisol levels. If you are negatively affected by stress and find it hard to manage your stress levels, demonstrating gratitude regularly can be a game-changer for getting on top of stress.
It seems that gratitude can also affect your body physically, even if you’re affected by health problems. For example, in a study involving heart disease patients, keeping a gratitude journal helped reduce inflammation levels and improve their sleep and mood. In some cases, it can be a factor in improving symptoms of heart disease.
In another study, people write a letter expressing their gratitude and hand-deliver it to the person. Afterward, they felt a lot happier and more satisfied with their life. And these feelings weren’t just fleeting effects either; they often lasted for weeks!
Gratitude can make you more open to forgiving people and help you build a stronger relationships with the people around you. So, if you’re holding onto a lot of bitterness and resentment and finding it hard to forgive people for past events, gratitude could be just what you need to start moving forwards.
Ways to include gratitude in your self-care
Get more mindful. If you don’t already practice mindfulness regularly, this is a perfect time to start doing it. Mindfulness is a big part of gratitude, which makes sense when you think about it. After all, how can you be grateful if you’re not mindful? Moreover, the more aware you are, the easier you’ll find it, to tap into even the tiny things around you and their effects.
Keep a gratitude journal.
Writing down the things that you’re grateful for can be powerful. According to a Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, registering in a gratitude journal for ten weeks meant that participants experienced brighter moods, found it easier to engage in positive thinking, and slept better. Pretty good, right? Get into the habit of noting down 3-5 things you were thankful for each day. It can be anything, from someone who smiled at you in the street and lifted your mood to see the faces of your family after a long day at work.
Incorporate it into yoga.
If you try to do yoga as part of your self-care, why not add another dimension to it with gratitude too? It’s a perfect opportunity, given that you’re already very much in the present during a yoga session. Try thinking about a few things that make you grateful while you’re doing yoga can be an easy way to introduce it to your life and help it become second nature.
Write a gratitude letter. Remember that handwritten letter expressing gratitude that we talked about earlier? Try it yourself and see how it works for you. Think of someone who has made some lasting impact on your life and write a letter to tell them what this means to you. Then go ahead and make sure it reaches them.
