How Being Grateful Can Actually Improve Your Health and Wellness
When I was growing up, we said "The Lord's Prayer," kneeling by our beds, morning and night. We said grace at every meal. It was habit and in retrospect, a lot of the words I said, I did by rote—not even considering what a phrase really meant; however, it did impress upon me the need to take a moment, take stock, and be grateful for everything I had in my life.
I didn't know it then, but having an attitude of gratitude can do more than just protect us from the perils of "affluenza."Dr. Tom Sult points out an article in Modern Healthcare Professionalthat explains how being grateful can actually improve our health.
Studies performed by researchers from University of California Davis revealed that consciously focusing on personal blessings can increase emotional and physical health. Another study, reported in Psychology Today, showed that people who show more gratitude in their daily lives enjoy better sleep and have lower levels of anxiety and depression. Additional studies show that people who demonstrate more gratitude have more activity in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls important functions including eating, drinking, sleeping, metabolism and stress levels.
These studies are particularly interesting because they offer an additional approach to treating illness—one without a negative side effect.
Still, it's not always easy to remember to be grateful. We think about it annually on Thanksgiving as we sum up the reasons we're thankful. We certainly think about it when we realize we've escaped disaster.
It's a little harder to be grateful when we don't quite escape that looming abyss, but RTC author, Jim Jacoby, did. Jim recently shared the details of his harrowing motorcycle accident in his post on our community website. He describes his realization that despite having a cracked pelvis, broken wrist, torn muscles, and internal bleeding, he was immensely grateful it wasn't worse; that he had an excellent medical team, that the equipment he wore protected him, and that his wife, along with friends and even strangers, were there to help.
Sure, who doesn't want to be grateful? But we get busy. We forget. So how can we reap the benefits of a life filled with gratitude?
Like most successful actions, gratitude does have to be practiced, but it doesn't have to be a time-consuming process. Here are some tips:
- Give positive reminders of any rewards of a situation. So you're stuck in traffic. This is a great time to mentally review a presentation or just to jam to your favorite radio station.
- Don't compare yourselves others. The greatest effects from gratitude come when you focus your appreciation on what you have, instead of comparing yourself to others who might not have as much.
- Keep a daily or even weekly gratitude journal. Studies show that those who do have greater improvements in optimism, exercise patterns, and reduced physical ailments.
- Don't wait for next Thanksgiving to start intentionally being thankful. This minute is a great time to begin.
Want to be more grateful? Start by noticing a reason to be thankful each day, whether it's that your car's air conditioner works as it should, or that you found a $20 bill in your jeans pocket, or that a worrisome medical test result came back with good results. Practicing a thankful approach will help make gratitude a conscious habit.
~ (Article curtesy of Just be well by Dr. Tom Sult)
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