Though it’s the season of Thanksgiving, times are a little rough for many this year, and it may feel like a challenge to find things to be thankful for.
Personally, I think I’m pretty good at showing gratitude to the people in my life. I love giving thank-yous in the moment or offering a quick shout-out at work. But when I hear people talk about practicing gratitude in the sense of appreciating what we have rather than what we don’t, I sometimes think, “Gratitude doesn’t pay the bills.”
Recently, though, I had a thought: what if gratitude could work like a kind of currency? What if counting blessings was like putting money in the bank? It turns out, there’s some truth to that. Science shows that gratitude pays dividends in health, happiness, and even longevity.
A Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study published in JAMA Psychiatry followed nearly 50,000 older women and found that those with the highest gratitude scores had a 9% lower risk of dying over the next four years compared to those with the lowest scores. Gratitude appeared protective against every cause of death studied, especially cardiovascular disease.
And the benefits aren’t just about living longer. Research summarized by PositivePsychology.com shows that gratitude reduces stress, improves sleep, strengthens relationships, and even lowers cellular inflammation. Gratitude journaling, for example, has been linked to higher optimism and better physical health outcomes.
If journaling isn’t for you, studies show that writing thank-you notes to express appreciation increases social bonds and boosts happiness for both the giver and the receiver. Even speaking gratitude out loud, maybe around the dinner table, can reinforce connection.
Another simple form of gratitude is just noticing everyday things. When asked on Thankful Thursday what I was grateful for, it was early in the morning and I wasn’t exactly in a cheerful mood. But my answer came easily: coffee. I was grateful for something warm to start the day, something delicious that helped gear me up.
On Monday, as my husband and I lamented a bird-less hunt, we reminded ourselves to take in the day anyway. The sun was out on a beautiful late-November afternoon. The woods still smelled like the leaves decaying on the forest floor—that wonderful fall scent. And even though we didn’t get any birds, we did see a few. That’s a hopeful indication of more to come in the spring, for which we’ll be grateful.
Then there are the classic Acts of Kindness. Recently, I saw a local post about someone paying for another person’s groceries when they couldn’t find their card at the checkout. What that do-gooder probably didn’t realize was that they bought groceries for a family dealing with a health crisis. The snacks were for the family to bring to the hospital while their father received cancer treatment.
Stories like these remind us that gratitude isn’t just emotional, it’s biological.
