All About Gratitude: What It Means, Why It’s Good for Health, and How to Practice It

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Keeping a gratitude journal and volunteering are two ways to start cultivating more gratitude in your life.Lucy Lambriex/Getty Images

The practice of gratitude can be something small, like saying thank you to someone for holding open the door for you. It can also be more monumental: Thanking someone for being a mentor to you, supporting you through a tough time, or saving your life.

The interesting part, according to Glenn Fox, PhD, lecturer of entrepreneurship at USC Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles, who researches the neuroscience behind gratitude, is that all of it is really good for well-being and health.

Psychology research consistently suggests gratitude is linked to happiness in terms of helping people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships, according to Harvard Health.

(More on those benefits below.)

What’s more, research suggests our brains are actually wired to respond positively to it, Fox explains.

There are several regions of the brain — including the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex, which are associated with feelings of social reward and bonding, moral judgment, and understanding our own and others’ emotional states — that respond to feelings of gratitude, Dr. Fox and his colleagues identified in a September 2015 study in Frontiers in Psychology.

And, there’s evidence that these areas of the brain activated by gratitude are plastic, he adds. A study published in 2016 in the journal NeuroImage, for example, showed that three months after a gratitude intervention a group of people were more likely to practice gratitude and the areas of the brain involved in gratitude were more active.

That means you can grow your brain’s ability to respond to the good.

“By practicing gratitude, we engage and strengthen these circuits, and thus gain more benefit from gratitude,” he says.

Here’s what you need to know about gratitude and how to cultivate and grow the practice in your own life.

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Common Questions & Answers

What does gratitude mean?
Gratitude is the feeling of thankfulness or happiness in response to a tangible or intangible benefit. It helps us form a bond with others by recognizing the positive effect someone or something is having on you.
How do you practice being grateful?
Good ways to practice gratitude include practicing mindfulness, keeping a gratitude journal, taking time to savor what you truly enjoy, giving back to the community, and reframing.
What are the benefits of having gratitude?
Regularly practicing gratitude can strengthen relationships, boost mental health, and have physical implications like improving blood pressure and sleep quality.
Is there a difference between being grateful and expressing gratitude?
Yes, you can be grateful for something like an element of nature, such as a sunrise or sunset, or a relationship in your life, without expressing that out loud. When you do say what you’re grateful for to another person, you may experience added benefits of bonding and connection.
How can you better express gratitude toward others?
Start small, be specific, acknowledge the time and effort that it took for someone else to do something for you, and explain why you’re grateful for something someone else did for you. Also, practice.

How Do Psychologists Define Gratitude?

Gratitude is the feeling of thankfulness or happiness in response to either a tangible benefit (like a gift or a favor) or something intangible or happenstance (like a nice day), according to the American Psychological Association’s definition.

Gratitude is the specific emotion of recognizing and appreciating something good, adds Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, PhD, the science director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California in Berkeley.

It serves a higher purpose than making us feel warm and fuzzy. Expressing gratitude helps us bond. Because you’re recognizing the positive effect someone or something is having on you, gratitude also helps you recognize the interconnectedness of the universe and helps us connect with something other than ourselves — be it other people, nature, or spirituality, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

“It’s about recognizing that another person has put effort into doing something good that has benefited us,” says Dr. Simon-Thomas.

There’s also distinct social bonding benefits from receiving gratitude — or feeling appreciated, adds Fox. “It’s part of our brains wiring,” he explains. We register it as a reward.

Why Practicing Gratitude Is Good for Your Body and Health

Research indeed shows that practicing gratitude often — that is, taking the time to recognize and appreciate the good things around you or the good things that people do for you — is good for many facets of health and well-being.

Gratitude can help build resilience, strengthen relationships, boost mental health, and even improve markers of physical health, like blood pressure and sleep, says Simon-Thomas.

For instance, one randomized clinical trial on more than 1,300 people found that those who were tasked with writing daily gratitude lists for two weeks scored higher on measures of subjective happiness and life satisfaction, had better moods, and reduced symptoms of depression compared with control groups, according to research published in March 2019 in Frontiers in Psychology.

A research review published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research in August 2020 that analyzed data from 19 previous studies concluded that while gratitude was linked to improvements in physical health, such as blood pressure and blood sugar control, the strongest evidence is the promise of gratitude boosting sleep quality.

(The authors also point out that in the research analyzed, many of the studies had a large risk of bias, so more research is needed.)

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Types of Gratitude: Is Being Grateful and Expressing Gratitude Towards Others the Same?

You can be grateful for something intangible without a distinct giver — for example, you might feel gratitude toward being born into a loving family, savoring your first sip of fresh-brewed coffee in the morning, or a certain element of nature, like a serene forest or lake. Or you can be grateful for someone or something that someone specifically did for you.

And when it’s the latter, the act of actually expressing gratitude to another person, there are some unique and additional benefits, Simon-Thomas says. “There’s this shift of perspective from self-focus to other-focus. And when you feel gratitude toward someone else, you strengthen the brain pathways between feeling pleasure and goodness in other people,” Simon-Thomas says.

This type of gratitude promotes bonding and connection with others. You come away feeling as if others are trustworthy and will act with your best interests in mind, she explains.

Research shows, for example, that expressing gratitude for someone else in a letter written to that person can buoy mental health of the letter writer more than other interventions known to be good for mental health, such as expressive writing about stressful experiences or therapy alone, according to research published in the journal Psychotherapy Research in March 2018.

“There’s an empathic resonance that happens when you say ‘thank you’ and the other person says ‘you’re welcome,’” says Simon-Thomas. On the receiving end of that thank you, she adds: “You get the validation that you are appreciated and seen.”

Just remember that if someone expresses gratitude towards you, acknowledge it by saying “you’re welcome” rather than “nah, forget it” or “no problem.” This helps the good vibes go both ways.

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Tips for Getting Better at Practicing Gratitude

If you’re not in the habit of expressing gratitude towards others or taking the time to appreciate those giver-less intangibles — or you want to get better at it — here are some tips.

To Get Better at Being Grateful

You can also practice being grateful for the things around you that aren’t linked to a specific individual or giver.

Try the following:

  • Practice mindfulness. Michelle Maidenberg, PhD, MPH, LCSW-R, a therapist in private practice in Harrison, New York, who also teaches a graduate course in Mindfulness Practice at New York University, says part of practicing this type of gratitude is recognizing the present moment. So practicing mindfulness (a type of meditation) can help.
  • Keep a gratitude journal. Toward the end of the day write down two or three things that you’re grateful for that happened during the day, Dr. Maidenberg suggests. The idea is that you’ll get in the habit of noticing those things you appreciate all day long, so you’ll get in the habit of noticing those things more regularly throughout the day and more frequently. If the idea of a journal or writing sounds like too much, say your list out loud to yourself, make sharing what you’re grateful for a regular dinner table conversation, or keep a running list in the notes app on your cellphone.

RELATED: How Maintaining a Gratitude Journal for 1 Month Made Me Happier

  • Take the time to savor what you truly enjoy. Notice the things that are around you that are important to you or meet your values. For example, if you love nature, take a minute to notice when the sun is out. Say to yourself, “the sun is out” and then stand there, breathe, and enjoy it for a few minutes, suggests Maidenberg.
  • Give back. Practicing gratitude can also be giving back through charity work and service for others, Maidenberg says. “Gratitude isn’t just about speaking, it’s in the doing,” she says. One example is to look for the good that can come out of a crisis, such as collecting supplies for people affected by a hurricane. It’s also something that a family can do together to help instill appreciation and gratefulness in children.
  • Reframe. Reframing your mindset is a contemplative practice that can be a powerful way to bring more gratitude into your life. And you do this by changing the way you speak or change the way the voice inside your head speaks to you. For example, instead of saying or thinking “I have to go to work today,” reframe it as “I get to go to work today and use my skills and talents.” Or instead of “My toddler is talking back to me," reframe it as “Wow, my toddler can express herself.” The idea isn’t to ignore the fact that going to work might come with stressors or take some energy from you — or that raising a toddler isn’t exhausting. The idea is to hone in on the good parts of even the challenging things that happen throughout your day. Recognizing that different emotions can coexist is ultimately really good for your well-being, Maidenberg says.
  • Use an app. If you have a hard time remembering to take a moment for gratitude, you can download a gratitude app that sends random reminders to your phone to take a moment to pause and reflect, Maidenberg suggests. Gratitude Journal Affirmations and Presently are two options.

To Get Better at Expressing Gratitude Toward Others

Simon-Thomas suggests:

  • Start small. Acknowledge the little things people do for you over the course of a day, like holding the door open for you or calling or texting to say hello.
  • Be specific. Call out the thing someone did for you that you’re appreciative of.
  • Acknowledge the effort. Recognize the time and energy that went into it
  • Explain why you’re grateful. Describing how you benefited or why you appreciated something can make it more meaningful. If, for example, a friend brings over some fresh-baked cookies, Simon-Thomas says you could say: “Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to bake me those delicious cookies. I was really craving something sweet that day, and it really hit the spot and made me feel loved.”
  • Practice. “I’ve yet to hear that gratitude has backfired. It tends to work and lead to a shared warmth that’s fundamentally reinforcing for people, so you want to do it again,” she adds.

Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking

  • Fox G, Kaplan J, Damasio H, et al. Neural Correlates of Gratitude. Frontiers in Psychology. September 30, 2015.
  • Kini P, Wong J, McInnis S, et al. The Effects of Gratitude Expression on Neural Activity. NeuroImage. March 2016.
  • Cunha LZ, Pellanda LC, and Reppold CT. Positive Psychology and Gratitude Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Frontiers in Psychology. March 21, 2019.
  • Boggiss AL, Consedine NS, Brenton-Peters JM, et al. A Systematic Review of Gratitude Interventions: Effects on Physical Health and Health Behaviors. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. August 2020.
  • Wong JY, Owen J, Gabana NT, et al. Does Gratitude Writing Improve the Mental Health of Psychotherapy Clients? Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial. Psychotherapy Research. March 2018.
  • Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier. Harvard Medical School. April 14, 2021
  • Gratitude. American Psychological Association.
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