By Michael Merschel, American Heart Association News
Overindulgence during the holidays is a tradition rarely praised by health experts. But when it comes to the reason for resolutions, feel free to serve up as much gratitude as you can.
That’s because research suggests expressing gratitude might be not only a nice thing to do, but a healthy one, too.
Gratitude is a simple concept, but it has many facets. It can refer to feelings toward another person or a general sense of reverence, such as for God or nature. It’s studied as both an inherent trait and a temporary emotion. It’s both related to and distinct from compassion. Compassion is about giving help, while gratitude is about receiving it.
Research on gratitude’s benefits hasn’t been as extensive as in some other areas of psychological well-being. Although many aspects of positive psychological well-being have been linked to physical health, the specific effects of gratitude can be difficult to pin down.
But despite the research gaps, it’s important for people to cultivate gratitude, as it may be beneficial for health, both physically and mentally.
A study, published in 2018 in the Journal of Positive Psychology, showing that in people who had been treated for acute coronary syndrome (where blood flow to the heart is blocked, as in a heart attack), those who expressed gratitude two weeks after the event were more likely to stay on their medications six months later. They showed higher levels of physical activity, too.
A study of people with heart failure, published in 2016 in Spirituality in Clinical Practice, associated gratitude with better mood and sleep. A 2009 study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research also linked it to better sleep quality.
In 2018, researchers reported in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology that gratitude exercises improved eating habits among teenagers. In April, a study in Scientific Reports linked gratitude with lower triglyceride levels in adults.
Physiologically, when people are experiencing gratitude, or when they tend to be more grateful overall, they have lower blood pressure and handle stress better. Stress has been associated with many physical and mental health issues.
Gratitude could be something we are hard-wired to experience. Cultivating gratitude does take work. You get better at it with practice.
Luckily, that’s easy. Some people keep a gratitude journal and end each day by writing down at least one positive thing that happened to them. It’s nice to put things down on paper, then go back and see all the good things that have happened over time.
At family meals go around the table and asking everybody about something that they’re grateful for that day.
Just the act of sharing that with each other can help re-experience the positive feelings, and may help those around you feel positive as well.
Simply waking up and saying a prayer of gratitude, or thinking about something you’re grateful for, can also be really, really powerful.
But, expressing gratitude in a condescending way may backfire, especially around children. Adults can acknowledge their good fortune or privilege in a humble way but singling out others in a “downward social comparison” risks sending a message that not having things makes others inferior. Noting that ‘you’re so lucky because you have stuff that other people don’t have’ is potentially harmful.
While people can find ways to express gratitude amid hardship, that doesn’t mean anybody should deny actual adversity, such as a serious health condition.
Source: https://www.heart.org/ en/news/2022/11/21/feast-on-gratitude-this-season-it-could-be-good-for-you-mentally-and-physically
