GRATITUDE: IT'S GOOD FOR YOU

For many of us, there seems little to be grateful for, lately. The ongoing onslaught on everything, everywhere, all at once, is hardly something to cheer about.

But we can still be grateful for so much and it’s a bad idea to ignore that.

We can be grateful for that first warm sip of a latte in the morning, a neighbor’s help after a storm blows the garbage cans all over, for a beautiful day, and for the love of family and friends.

Even better, researchers say, gratitude is an important positive factor that keeps us healthy and living longer.

A study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that cultivating gratitude can also help older people live longer, happier lives.

The researchers used data from the Nurses’ Health Study to assess levels of appreciation and mortality among 49,275 older women with an average age of 79. The nurses answered a six-question gratitude test in 2016. Three years later, 10 percent of the women had died, mostly from heart disease, but those expressing the highest levels of gratitude showed a 9 percent lower risk of dying than those who had the lowest levels of gratefulness.

“[The] research has shown an association between gratitude and lower risk of mental distress and greater emotional and social well-being,” concluded lead author, Ying Chen, a research scientist in the department of epidemiology. “However,” Chen added, “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.”

While the study doesn't show direct cause and effect, it suggests that embracing gratitude can positively influence one’s physical health. The data was conservatively controlled for many sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics including physical health, cognitive function, mental health history, optimism, and lifestyle choices like religious involvement and social engagement.

Philip Watkins, emeritus professor of psychology at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., and author of the book Gratitude and the Good Life: Toward a Psychology of Appreciation, thinks the results speak for themselves.

“I guess I was surprised by how strong the findings…. The fact that they found a robust effect even after controlling for all those variables was pretty surprising to me…. I think this study argues that positive emotions do at least seem to have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular health and depression,” says Watkins.

While Chen acknowledges that the study did not examine the specific mechanisms underlying gratitude’s impact on health and longevity, she points to a growing body of evidence.

“Prior researchers have posited that gratitude may shape health more directly via increasing restorative biological functioning and healthy lifestyles, and indirectly through lowering the risks of mental illness and increasing social support and adaptive coping strategies,” she says.

In addition, Chen says, experiencing gratitude may be particularly relevant for generating a sense of meaning and connection in older adults.

“As people age, they tend to prioritize engagement in meaningful activities and maintaining fewer but deeper social relationships,” Chen says. “To this end, experiencing and expressing gratitude can be a meaningful approach for people to maintain close social bonds and to achieve a sense that life has been well-lived.”

But how can we bolster a feeling of appreciation and gratitude in our busy, often challenging lives?

Watkins offers one way. “One of the most effective ways is to recall three good things that have happened to you recently (during the last day or two), and then to write about how each thing made you feel grateful every day for a week or two. It’s important not just to write but also to imagine the event vividly, and when writing to reflect mindfully on how valuable the benefit is, what life might be like without this gift, and the goodness of the giver – whoever that may be. This practice focuses on the specific blessings in our lives: our spouse, our friends, the place we live in, the air we breathe, are constant blessings that we often take for granted.”

However, Watkins says gratitude must be expressed as well as experienced, and invokes University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Martin Seligman’s idea of the “Gratitude Visit.” Seligman, director of UPenn’s Positive Psychology Center, suggested people write letters of gratitude to people who have contributed to their lives and deliver them and read them in person. A study he and colleagues conducted showed participants who completed a gratitude visit reported increased happiness and decreased depression.

“As research evidence accumulates,” says Chen, “we will have a better understanding of how gratitude can meaningfully improve long-term health and well-being,” says Chen.

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