There is a growing body of evidence that shows that gratitude has a powerful impact on our bodies, including our immune and cardiovascular systems, and our brain health.
A recent study involving 293 adults, mostly college students who were seeking mental health counseling at a university, set out to establish whether gratitude letter writing improves mental health. The participants in general struggled with issues related to depression and anxiety.
For the purposes of the study, participants were divided into three groups. The first group was instructed to write one letter of gratitude to another person each week for three weeks; the second group was asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about negative experiences; and the third group did not do any writing activity.
Compared to the participants who wrote about negative experiences or only received counseling, those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health four weeks and twelve weeks after their writing exercise ended.
When the research team dug deeper into their results, they found indications of how gratitude affected the minds and bodies of participants.
Here are four psychological benefits of gratitude.
1. Gratitude releases us from toxic emotions
Gratitude letter writing may result in better mental health by shifting the attention away from toxic emotions, such as resentment and envy.
2. Gratitude helps even if you don’t share it
Participants who were assigned to write gratitude letters weren’t required to send their letters to their intended recipient. In fact, only 23 percent of participants who wrote gratitude letters sent them. But those who didn’t send their letters also enjoyed the benefits of experiencing gratitude. This suggests that the mental health benefits are not entirely dependent on communicating gratitude to another person. The mere act of writing the letter can help you appreciate the people in your life and shift your focus away from negative feelings and thoughts.
3. Gratitude’s benefits take time
If you write a gratitude letter, be patient and remember that the benefits of gratitude might take time to kick in.
4. Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain
When the researchers compared the brains of those who wrote the gratitude letters with those who didn’t, the gratitude letter writers showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in a fMRI scanner. This effect was found three months after the letter writing began. This indicates that simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain. This finding suggests that practicing gratitude may help train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude and this could contribute to improved mental health over time.
How to write a gratitude letter
- Call to mind someone who did something for you for which you are extremely grateful, but to whom you never expressed your deep gratitude. This could be a relative, friend, teacher, or colleague. Select a person or act that you haven’t thought about for a while – something that isn’t always on your mind.
- Write as though you are addressing this person directly (“Dear ______”).
- Don’t worry about perfect grammar or spelling.
- Describe in specific terms what this person did, why you are grateful to this person, and how this person’s behaviour affected your life.
- Describe what you are doing in your life now and how you often remember his or her efforts.
- Try to keep your letter to roughly one page (~300 words).
Watch: How gratitude changes your brain
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