Gratitude

We are coming to that time of year when we all start to give a bit more thought to the people and things that we are thankful for. It isn’t that most of us aren’t grateful year-round, it is just that between Thanksgiving, the holiday season, and the New Year, we are presented with multiple opportunities to look at what we have and express our appreciation as one year ends and a new cycle begins.

But, what if we were to make a point of expressing gratitude regularly, year-round? Research has been looking at what happens to our physical and emotional health when we regularly take the time to just simply express a little gratitude. What we are discovering is that the benefits of practicing gratitude are practically endless, and that is something to be grateful for.

7 Benefits of Practicing Daily Gratitude

Seven doesn’t really even begin to touch on all the ways that expressing gratitude can improve your life. But, science says we can remember seven bits of information at a time, and we have to start somewhere, so why not with this magic number?

1. 1. Become Grateful for a Good Night’s Sleep. Having trouble falling asleep, or feel like you just aren’t getting quality ZZZs? Taking a few minutes to think about or write down a few things you are grateful for has been shown to lead to better sleep patterns.

Expressing gratitude helps to put your mind on the positive rather than all those nagging worries and to-do lists that can keep you awake at night.

1. 2. Gratitude Will Help You See Your Doctor Less. It has been known that regular gratitude practice helps to keep your immune system functioning in tip-top shape, but new research points to a bigger, positive impact on your health. Gratitude has been linked to hormone regulation, reduced blood pressure, and even improved kidney function.

Some suggest that people who practice the art of being grateful on a regular basis are more likely to appreciate their bodies and their health, and as a result, more likely to keep preventative doctor visits and take better care of their health.

1. 3. You Can Skip the Line at the Coffee Shop Each Morning. One small study that looked specifically at gratitude journaling compared a control group of people who journaled daily, but not necessarily focused on gratitude, with a group that took a few minutes to jot down all their reasons to be grateful in a journal dedicated to gratitude.

What did they find out? The gratitude participants had more energy and reported an overall increase in feelings of vitality. The next you are in a rush out the door and don’t know if you will have time to grab your caffeine fix, try a little gratitude instead.

1. 4. Gratitude Helps You Lighten Up. Grateful people are more likely to behave kindly and express empathy towards others. Approaching life from this perspective prevents at least some of the daily grind from taking a toll on your nerves. Not only is this good for your stress levels, but for others as well. Stress, tension, and anxiety are all contagious.

1. 5. Want Happier Memories? Be Grateful for Them. Have you ever wondered how two people who experience the exact same thing can remember it completely differently? The reason is we have a part in creating our own memories. People who express gratitude regularly tend to put a more positive spin on their memories, even those that might not be so pleasant.

1. 6. Develop More Fulfilling and Meaningful Relationships. It turns out that there is a key to happier relationships, and it involves being thankful for the people in your life. Most of us are good at expressing gratitude for obvious acts, but what about the day-to-day happenings that often get taken for granted?

A regular gratitude practice can help you recognize these small acts of kindness, which increases the chances that you will let your gratitude be known. This not only helps you realize how important these people are in your lives, but it lets them know too. People who are in relationships with a strong foundation of mutual respect and appreciation find it easier to get through the unavoidable tough spots together.

1. 7. It’s All About Happiness. When you put these things together, what do you get? You see the makings of a healthier, happier, more fulfilling life. An interesting study looked at the after-effects of regular gratitude practice. What they discovered was that six months after participants practiced daily gratitude for just three weeks, they still reported feeling 25% happier than those who did not practice gratitude.

It could be that once you learn how to be appreciative of the big and the small, the good things and the difficult learning experiences, you develop a lifelong habit that is hard to turn off. Expressing gratitude today can lead to happier tomorrows.

Does all of this have you feeling inspired? Wonder how you can fit one more thing into your already busy schedule? Developing a regular gratitude practice takes little in terms of time or energy. In fact, to get the most from your gratitude practice, the focus should be on quality rather than quantity. What I mean by this is that it is more beneficial to spend a few minutes begin deeply grateful for one or two things than it is to spend twenty minutes trying to come up with a lengthy list of things to be grateful for.