The Science of Gratitude

Count Your Blessings

Name them One by One

Many of us were told as children to count our blessings, or to be grateful for what we have. It seems like something so simple, but the implications of practicing gratitude are much greater than it appears on the surface. Right now, the world is united in a fight against a near invisible force, the virus SARS-CoV-2, and we are bombarded daily with news of growing infection rates, rising death rates, and dwindling supplies. It is scary. We are allowed to feel fear. This fear and anxiety can and has led many of us into a downward spiral and we are looking for something to help pull us out.

… But there isn’t just fear, is there? Look around, examine your life and situation and challenge yourself to find a positive. I firmly believe that there is always something good. Within the smoke plume of confusion, there are moments of happiness, surprise, joy, and feeling content and these moments should be acknowledged actively.

Did you know that practicing GRATITUDE actually changes your brain? There are several scientific studies that show, using functional MRIs (fMRI), the changes our brain go through when we express gratitude. A research article by Karns et al. in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience titled, The Cultivation of Pure Altruism via Gratitude: A Functional MRI Study of Change with Gratitude Practice, showed the effects of practicing gratitude. The researchers performed a double-blind study where participants were randomly assigned to either gratitude-journaling (the Gratitude group) or the Active-Neutral group for 3 weeks. Questionnaires and fMRI scans (particularly focused on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens) were done before and after the completion of the study. Participants in the study were asked to keep journals where they wrote down the things, the moments, the people for which they were grateful. The study showed that gratitude contributed to well-being, and that there are positive impacts on both mental health and physical health. Additionally, gratitude begets more gratitude. Plainly, gratitude journaling, writing things down and acknowledging it, increased a person’s gratitude and lead to more altruistic tendencies. They also noted significant activity changes on the fMRI scans.

Similar results are seen in this study by Kini et al. where participants with depression and anxiety who were undergoing psychotherapy were divided into two groups: one group received therapy as well as wrote letters expressing gratitude and the other group received therapy-as-usual. The experiment took place for 3 months and included measurement of brain activity using fMRI. They found that “… a simple gratitude writing intervention was associated with significantly greater and lasting neural sensitivity to gratitude – subjects who participated in gratitude letter writing showed both behavioral increases in gratitude and significantly greater neural modulation by gratitude in the medial prefrontal cortex three months later”.

Another study by Wong et al. was done with college undergraduates who partook in regular counseling at a University. All participants received counseling, but they were also divided into 3 groups: “the first group was instructed to write one letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks, whereas the second group was asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences. The third group did not do any writing activity.“ I should clarify that those who wrote gratitude letters did not have to actually send out the letter, just perform the act of writing it down. At the end of the intervention period, the authors note that those who wrote gratitude letters self-reported better mental health both 4-weeks and 12-weeks after the end of the experiment. They found that practicing gratitude has positive effects for, “ healthy, well-adjusted individuals, but also for those who struggle with mental health concerns.”

Now, more than ever, it’s important to cultivate a lifestyle of gratitude simply because it is good for us. It is when things seem especially dark that light shines brightest. So I task you, take on an activity that allows you to practice gratitude, whether it is daily journaling or weekly letter writing. Assess yourself, examine your attitude, reflect on changes you notice, and remember that gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness.