Why Gratitude Is Good for You?

Gratitude is more than just saying ‘thank you’ to someone who has helped us or given us a gift. Gratitude is a deeper appreciation for someone or something that makes us feel a positive emotion. And this positive emotion can be good for our health -- our emotional and physical health, as well as the health of our relationships.

Let’s start by looking at the emotional or mental health benefits of expressing gratitude. There have been many studies, as described in a 2018 paper from the Greater Good Science Center titled ‘The Science of Gratitude’, showing that writing a gratitude letter to another person or writing in a gratitude journal, if done regularly, improves mental health. It is because gratitude stops us from thinking about toxic, negative emotions, and writing a ‘thank you’ letter, for example, shifts our attention so that we focus on positive emotions. But even if we don’t share our writing with anyone, like in a journal, the act of completing the exercise alone makes us happier and more satisfied with life. And this gets better with time. So, the more we express gratitude, the more positive we feel.

Gratitude can also make us feel good in our bodies. There are studies linking a gratitude practice to better sleep quality, better eating habits, and reduced inflammation in people who have had heart problems. So gratitude is clearly good for us, but is it also good for the people in our lives?

The simple answer is ‘yes’. When shared — spoken or written — gratitude is about feeling valued and helping others feel valued too. Feeling valued can help build stronger relationships — be it with family, partners, friends or even colleagues. And that’s on top of all the other ways gratitude is clearly good for us. Maybe we should all stop counting sheep or counting calories and start counting our blessings instead.