Study shows - gratitude can add years to your life

Practice gratitude to live longer

If you want to live longer, be grateful. That's what a recent study published in JAMA found. The survey of 49,275 older nurses (average age 79) in the Nurse's Health Study graded them on their answers to a six-item questionnaire and subsequent mortality.

The Good News Network reported that the study's research team found an overall reduced death rate of 29% in an analysis covering 2016-2019. The women who expressed more gratitude were younger, in committed relationships, and active in social or religious organizations.

Study leader Ying Chen and her team found that, in comparison to women with lower gratitude scores, the most grateful tended to be younger, have a husband or partner, and be involved in social and religious organizations.

The average age of nurses who answered the gratitude questions was 79, and by the end of 2019, 4,068 of them had died.

Looking at those who died, higher gratitude scores were associated with a 29% reduced risk for death overall. When controlling for a history of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes, gratitude was still associated with a 27% reduced risk of death, and a 21% reduced risk after controling [sic] for lifestyle habits like smoking, exercise, drinking, and eating a healthy diet.

Author Andy Corbley suggests ways of expressing gratitude and keeping it a regular part of your daily activities, including keeping a gratitude journal, making time for prayer, and expressing gratitude with family members.

To that end, keeping a gratitude journal, making time for prayer, and inviting family members to announce what they’re grateful for at the start of a meal together, are all good ways to open your mind to grateful feelings.

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Here is some more information about the ways in which gratitude improves overall mental and physical health and yields significant social benefits.

Behavior changes biology

Expressing gratitude not only improves your health and emotional well-being but also benefits those to whom gratitude is expressed, the Mayo Clinic offers.

‍Studies have shown that feeling thankful can improve sleep, mood and immunity. Gratitude can decrease depression, anxiety, difficulties with chronic pain and risk of disease.. . .

Remember that behavior changes biology. Positive gestures benefit you by releasing oxytocin, a hormone that helps connect people. Some people call it the love hormone.

You'll also benefit the person on the other end of the gesture. After all, who doesn't like to be thanked for their efforts or just for being who they are? Sharing kindness can make you healthier and happier.

The Mayo Clinic explains its "Discover Gratitude program", in the video below:

Releases brain's feel good chemicals

To practice gratitude, HelpGuide.org suggests shifting your perspective about difficult situations from focusing on negative thoughts to finding the positive aspects:

‍A little gratitude can do wonders for your mood. When you practice gratitude, you shift your thoughts away from negative emotions and uncomfortable sensations. Instead, you begin to focus on good things that you may have overlooked.

Rather than focusing on the misfortune of having a flat tire, for example, you consider how your job has made it possible to pay for repairs. Or you shift your focus to how fortunate you are to have close friends who are willing to drive you home.

This kind of thinking leads to a release of serotonin and dopamine, chemicals in the brain that are associated with happiness and pleasure. Acknowledging gratitude also decreases stress hormones. The short-term result is a reduction in anxiety and an improvement in mood. In the long-term, regularly practicing gratitude may also lead to lasting changes in your brain, priming you to be more grateful going forward.

Two core components

Research.com's Imed Bouchrika explains that gratitude has two components — an acknowledgment of the goodness and recognition that it comes from an outside source:

According to Robert A. Emmons, one of the key proponents in the field of gratitude research, gratitude has two core components—first as “an affirmation of goodness" and then as a way for us to acknowledge that the “sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves" (Emmons, 2010). . . .

 According to Brother David [Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk and author of Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer], gratefulness has two important qualities, the first being the appreciation of something you deem valuable. The second quality of gratefulness is that it must be gratis or given freely (The Gratefulness Team, 2017). . . .

Bouchrika shared Positive Psychology's diagrams, below, showing the many ways that gratitude positively affects the brain and how it can lead to greater happiness.

Multiple benefits

Concluding with the post's key insights, Bouchrika summarized gratitude's benefits as follows:

> Health Benefits: Gratitude improves physical health by enhancing sleep quality, lowering blood pressure, preventing overeating, motivating exercise, and boosting the immune system.

> Mental Health Benefits: It increases self-confidence, patience, resiliency, optimism, and helps reduce envy, jealousy, and symptoms of depression.

> Emotional and Social Benefits: Gratitude improves mood, helps manage grief, enhances relationships with friends and family, and fosters a healthy social circle.

> Professional Benefits: In the workplace, gratitude improves retention, productivity, management capabilities, decision-making skills, and overall work environment.

Take the gratitude survey

Interested in learning where you stand on the gratitude scale? Below is the six item gratitude questionnaire (page 2 of the Supplemental Online Content) that the nurses in the above mentioned study filled out.

X user Diptish Ray sums up their take-

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.