Have you ever kept a gratitude journal? If not, it might be time.

Science is accumulating rapidly on the benefits of this free and simple strategy. The more I read the more I think we should all be practicing gratitude.

The benefits of gratitude include:

• Increased psychological well-being
• Reduced stress and depression
• Improved sleep quality
• Reduced blood pressure
• Improved body image and body appreciation

Perhaps more important than anything else, gratitude has been said to act as a motivator of social action that draws people into community (Roberts, 2004). Given the state of our world today, I can’t think of anything we need more.

What is gratitude?

A simple definition of gratitude is “an acknowledgement that we have received something of value from others” (Emmons & Mishra 2011).

Gratitude can be a state or a trait. State gratitude refers to feeling grateful in the moment, while trait gratitude indicates that someone has higher levels of gratitude overall, meaning that they experience gratitude more frequently and perhaps more intensely than others with lower trait gratitude (Roberts, 2004).

Episodes of gratitude might involved positive emotions like gladness and have been described as an acute and intense feeling often along with a physiological change in our body (Roberts, 2004).

The benefits of gratitude

Having trait gratitude is associated with a number of positive benefits, including more life satisfaction, optimism, and hope, and less depression and physical aggression (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).

Additionally, research is accumulating on the benefits of gratitude interventions. The good news is, regardless of how much trait gratitude you have, practicing gratitude on a regular basis can lead to improvements.

In general, gratitude interventions have been done in three main ways (Rash, Matsuba, & Prkachin, 2011):

1. Gratitude lists (listing things you are grateful for)
2. Behavioral expressions of gratitude (for example, writing a letter to someone expressing gratitude)
3. Grateful contemplation (thinking about what you are grateful for)

It would be impossible to summarize all of the research on the benefits of brief gratitude interventions, but a few examples include:

1. Reduced depression and stress in health care workers (Sheung-Take et al., 2015)
2. Increased well-being in older adults (Killen & Macaskill, 2015),
3. Improved sleep quality (Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, 2016)
4. Lowered diastolic blood pressure (Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, 2016)

Often these benefits are seen after only 2-4 weeks of keeping a gratitude journal, which might take 3-5 minutes per day. So we are seeing big benefits from small investments of time.

Gratitude and body image

Not only does gratitude help with overall mood and psychological well-being, but it can help improve body image.

One study (Geraghty et al., 2010) randomly assigned participants (mostly women with varying levels of body dissatisfaction) to one of the following groups:

1. 2 week gratitude intervention. These participants were asked to write down up to 6 things they were grateful for each day. For example, “I am grateful for having good friends,” “I am grateful for having an interesting job,” “I’m grateful for the healthcare workers working during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
2. 2 week cognitive restructuring intervention. These participants wrote down negative thoughts about their bodies and then challenged them. For example, they might notice the thought “My stomach is too big” but then look at this thought and challenge it, or examine whether it is truly helpful to them (a standard technique for cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is a evidence-based treatment for a variety of psychological conditions including eating disorder and poor body image.
3. Waitlist control group. These participants had no intervention during the 2 weeks.

Body satisfaction improved in both the gratitude and cognitive restructuring groups, even when the gratitude journals were not specifically focused on body image. Both interventions were significantly more likely to improve body satisfaction compared to the control group.

Interestingly, participants in the gratitude group were more than two times as likely to complete the intervention (Geraghty et al., 2010) than the cognitive restructuring group, suggesting that it may have been a more acceptable intervention (people liked it and therefore were more likely to finish it), with the same results.

Gratitude and body appreciation

Researchers have begun to look at why gratitude might be so useful for improving body image.

Homan, & Tykla (2018) reviewed the role of gratitude in body appreciation and found support that gratitude plays a strong role in body appreciation. Given that gratitude has been shown to improve through intervention (e.g., gratitude journals) they suggested that this is something that should be strongly considered when considering how to improve body image.

3 Ways to Benefit from Gratitude Practice Immediately

Regardless of whether you are working on your body image, other healthy habits, or just looking to improve your mood and reduce stress, a gratitude practice has you covered. The list below will help you get started and it will only take 0-5 minutes out of your day.

1. Start a gratitude journal. This is really the best way, and we should probably all be doing this regardless of what we are struggling with. This does not have to be fancy. Just grab a notebook, write the words “Gratitude Journal” on the top and number 1, 2, and 3 and the date. Then choose a time of day you will consistently spend the 1-3 minutes it takes to write down three things you are grateful for. This takes such a small amount of time, but study after study shows that after just 2 weeks you will likely experience less depression, less stress, and increased well-being. So please, start your own gratitude journal today!
2. Write a gratitude letter. This falls into the category of behavioral expressions of gratitude. Think of anyone who has positively impacted you in your life. This could be your partner who you see daily, or your 1st grade teacher. Write out a letter and include how this person has impacted you and send it out. Post on your social media that you did this exercise and encourage others to do the same. Our world needs gratitude more than ever right now.
3. Engage in grateful contemplation. Don’t feel like writing? No problem. Find a time in your day that you can engage in grateful contemplation, in other words, thinking about what you are grateful for. This could be while you shower, while you brush your teeth, or during another activity like prayer, meditation, or exercise (during a walk or a yoga session). Think of as many things you are grateful for as you can, but at least 2-3 things. This will take zero extra minutes, but if you practice this regularly, it can make a huge difference in your well-being.

We all need this. So make a commitment to try out one of these suggestions and let me know how it went. I have a gratitude journal that I use sporadically, but will be dedicating the 5 minutes it takes to do this every day over the next 2 weeks.

References

Geraghty, A.W.A., Wood, A.M., & Hyland, M.E. (2010). Attrition from self-directed interventions: Investigating the relationship between psychological predictors, technique and dropout from a body image intervention. Social Science & Medicine, 71, 30–37.

Homan, K. J., & Tykla, T. L. (2018). Development and exploration of the gratitude model of body appreciation in women. Body Image, 25, 14-22.

Jackowska, M., Brown, J., Ronaldson, A. (2016). The impact of a brief gratitude intervention on subjective well-being, biology, and sleep. Journal of Health Psychology, 21.

Killen, A., & Macaskill, A. (2015). Using a gratitude intervention to enhance wellbeing in older adults. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16, 947-964.

McCullough, M.E., Emmons, R.A., & Tsang, J. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 112–127.

Rash, J. A., Matsuba, M. K., & Prkachin, K. M. (2011). Gratitude and well-being: Who benefits the most
from a gratitude intervention? Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being, 3, 350-369.

Roberts, R.C. (2004). The blessings of gratitude: A conceptual analysis. In R.A. Emmons & M.E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 58–78). New York: Oxford University Press.

Sheung-Take, C., Pui Ki, T., Lam, J. H. (2015). Improving mental health in health care practitioners: Randomized controlled trial of a gratitude intervention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83, 177-186.