Robert Emmons, Ph.D, a psychology professor at UC Davis has been studying the positive effects of gratitude for over 15 years. He defines gratitude as “the feeling that occurs when a person attributes a benefit they’ve received to another person”. Studies have found that expressing gratitude is linked to better health, sounder sleep, less anxiety and depression and kinder behavior towards others.
Another benefit of expressing gratitude is that it’s linked to reduced hostility. A study at the University of Kentucky showed that individuals who were insulted expressed less hostility if they had previously written an essay about things for which they were grateful. The researchers speculated that expressing gratitude increases empathy for others and thus, decreases hostility.
Gratitude can be practiced to increase optimism, happiness, physical well-being and reducing depression.
Learn more about gratitude and take a quiz to see how grateful you are.