A stronger immunity, better sleep, even a longer life — could the key to better health be as simple as a little gratitude?
It’s a compelling proposition that psychologists, data scientists and other health experts have been exploring in their research. According to the mental health pros, practicing gratitude could come with some major benefits.
Professor of psychology Monica Bartlett, Ph.D., runs the Positive Emotion and Social Behavior Lab at Gonzaga University. Writing in to The Conversation — a nonprofit news outlet that publishes articles written by academic experts — Bartlett explained that gratitude doesn’t always come easy.
“Generally, negative information captures attention more readily than the positive,” the professor wrote. “This disparity is so potent that it’s called the negativity bias. Researchers argue that this is an evolutionary adaptation: Being vigilant for life’s harms was essential for survival.
“Yet, this means that noticing the kindnesses of others or the beauty the world has to offer may go unnoticed or forgotten by the end of the day. That is to our detriment.”
Staying vigilant to the positives in our lives, science says, is simply harder. This makes practicing gratitude a potentially uphill battle, but it’s still a habit worth making. The potential health benefits are significant.
Health benefits of gratitude
The American Heart Association called gratitude “a good medicine,” pointing to research that shows practicing it can improve sleep, mood, immunity, depression, anxiety, chronic pain and disease. According to a 2024 study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, gratitude may help older adults live longer.
After looking at data from 49,275 older women, researchers discovered that participants showing greater levels of gratitude had up to 9% lower risks of all-cause mortality over the following four year.
“Prior research has shown an association between gratitude and lower risk of mental distress and greater emotional and social well-being,’ lead author Ying Chen told Harvard. “However, its association with physical health is less understood. Our study provides the first empirical evidence on this topic, suggesting that experiencing grateful affect may increase longevity among older adults.”
But how can gratitude potentially increase a person’s life span? Researchers only discovered a correlation, but study co-author Tyler VanderWeele had some ideas.
“We know that gratitude makes people feel happier,” he told Harvard Women’s Health Watch’s Maureen Salamon.
“That in itself has a small effect on mortality risk. Practicing gratitude may also make someone a bit more motivated to take care of their health. Maybe they’re more likely to show up for medical appointments or exercise. It may also help with relationships and social support, which we know contribute to health.”
How to practice gratitude
According to University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center research/writing fellow Summer Allen, Ph.D., a science-backed way to “build your gratitude muscle” is to start a journal. The Greater Good Science Center even offers an online version.
Licensed clinical social worker Rachel Slick used a gratitude journal for a year and had some insightful advice on how other people can start their own.
“Right now, my daily planner has a box every day to remind me to contemplate gratitude,” Slick told UCHealth Today. “I practiced for a year when I was first starting this on my own and the idea of journaling felt a little bit daunting to me. A lot of therapists, myself included, recommend journaling to express yourself. And it can feel like a big undertaking or a homework assignment, so I started really small with a list: three things every morning that I felt grateful for.
“The key is that it doesn’t have to be poetic or intense or beautiful — it can be simple. ‘I’m grateful for this coffee in this mug or I’m grateful I woke up; I’m grateful my car started.’ These are simple concepts.”
If starting your own gratitude journal sounds overwhelming, you don’t have to do it alone.
“You can look at doing this with someone else and not doing it alone,” she said. “It’s like we said before, it’s a daunting undertaking to just start practicing gratitude, right now in this minute. So maybe we’re not putting it off because we’re lazy about it, but we’re lonely about it. ‘How do I do this by myself?’ So a quick idea is to recruit a gratitude buddy or an accountability buddy.”
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