Gratitude can make a positive and significant impact on your health, happiness, and joy. That is what study after study shows. It can help us make a transition from happiness to joy and from unhealthy to healthy.
Gratitude is such a powerful emotion. It is difficult to feel depressed or sorry for yourself when you are feeling grateful. Negative emotions can’t live in the same space, though it may seem like it does
“The relationship between joy and gratitude was one of the important things I found in my research. I wasn’t expecting it. In my 12 years of research on 11,000 pieces of data, I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who also did not actively practice gratitude.” Source.
Take a look at what some of the research on gratitude:
A Gratitude Practice Can Increase the Frequency of Exercise
Being grateful can help you get fit and stay fit! I Data shows that study participants who practiced gratitude regularly for 11 weeks were more likely to exercise than those who didn’t. (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).
Gratitude Reduces Symptoms of Depression
A study on gratitude journaling showed that participants experienced significant reduction in depressive symptoms. And those benefits continues for as long as their gratitude journaling continued (Seligman et al., 2005).
Gratitude Has Been Shown to Improve Sleep
A study by Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, & Steptoe,found a two-week gratitude practice increased sleep quality and reduced blood pressure in participants, leading to enhanced well-being (Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, & Steptoe, 2016).
A study completed at the University of Manchester in England found that a deliberate practice of cultivating more positive thoughts at bedtime (gratitude) resulted in falling asleep faster. And it resulted in more restful sleep. The study included over 400 adults and 40% of whom had sleep disorders.n.
Gratitude Can Reduce Ones Blood Pressure
Patients with high blood pressure who counted their blessings at least once a week experienced a significant decrease in blood pressure, resulting in better overall health (Shipon, 1977).
Once a week! That is doable, isn’t it?
Being Grateful Can Improve Overall Health
A study by Hill, Allemand, & Roberts (2013) demonstrated that there is a direct correlation between physical health and gratitude. The same thing applied to psychological health (Hill, Allemand, & Roberts, 2013). It’s such a simple thing to do that can pay big dividends.
A Gratitude Practice Can Increase the Frequency of Exercise
What a simple thing to do, but with potentially big benefits. Study participants who practiced gratitude regularly for 11 weeks were more likely to exercise than those in the control group (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). I know that has been the case in my own life. I am more likely to go hiking, take a walk, or go to the gym when I am consciously practicing gratitude.
Gratitude Makes Sense of Our Past. Offers Peace for Today. And Creates a More Positive Vision for the Future.
Seriously! Looking at all these benefits its makes me want to be even more conscious and deliberate about practicing gratitude.
How about you?
Stay tuned for my next post on some ways you can practice gratidue.
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