Amy Morin, a contributing author to Forbes Magazine, wrote an article called “7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude That Will Motivate You to Give Thanks Year-Round.” The whole article is great and worth a read, but here are the seven points that she outlines.
- Gratitude opens the door to more relationships.
- Gratitude improves physical health.
- Gratitude improves psychological health.
- Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
- Grateful people sleep better.
- Gratitude improves self-esteem.
- Gratitude increases mental strength.
After some cursory research, it became apparent to me that the scientific bases for gratitude are nearly endless, and they all served to reiterate the basic points outlined above from the Forbes article. If you’re interested in reading a bit more about it, here are some great articles.
The Science Behind Gratitude by Derrick Carpenter (Happify Daily)
The Neuroscience of Why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier by Ocean Robbins (The Huffington Post)
5 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude by Douglas Main (Newsweek)
The Science of Gratitude: More Benefits Than Expected; 26 Studies and Counting by Amit Amin (Happier Human)
In Praise of Gratitude (Harvard Health Publications; Harvard Medical School)
Much of the research on gratitude has been conducted by Dr. Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and the founding Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology.