11 Benefits of Practicing Gratitude for Mental Health

What if just 10 to 15 minutes per day of thinking different thoughts could improve your sleep, reduce stress, and increase your self-esteem? Would you try it?

Gratitude isn’t just something to think about at Thanksgiving, nor is it an abstract, woo-woo concept without substance—it’s actually grounded in scientific research.

From stress relief and sleeping better to happiness and heart health, the benefits of practicing gratitude are endless. In fact, it’s one of the most effective ways to improve your well-being. Not only that but practicing gratitude is free and takes mere minutes—what do you have to lose?

What Is Practicing Gratitude?

While you’re undoubtedly familiar with the term gratitude, you may be a little less clear on what “practicing gratitude” means. Essentially, practicing gratitude involves cultivating a mindset of thankfulness and appreciation for the people, things, or experiences that you have.

Gratitude is about focusing on what you do have around you, not what you do not.

It’s not toxic positivity or pretending everything is perfect, but it’s more about balancing your perspective and training your mind to highlight good things. You can feel grateful for something as small as your morning cup of coffee or scoring the best parking spot or as large as your love for your family or the vastness of the universe. 

Another aspect of practicing gratitude is “reframing,” which is essentially finding the silver lining in any situation. This doesn’t mean overlooking problems but, instead, looking for hidden positives or lessons for growth. Since most people are wired to focus on negatives or stressors, training your brain to notice the good can have far-reaching benefits—not only for mental health but also for physical well-being.

Gratitude and Mental Health Benefits

Most of the benefits of gratitude are related to mental, emotional, or psychological health—let’s see what the research shows on some of these topics. 

• Increases optimism: Practicing gratitude can make you a more optimistic person. According to Psychology Today, gratitude fosters optimism, which strengthens hope.¹
• Improves self-esteem: Research shows that gratitude directly affects the self-esteem of college students with mental health struggles.² One way gratitude benefits self-esteem is by increasing the focus on your accomplishments, which helps you boost confidence and reduce comparisons or envy of others.
• Enhances positive emotions: Gratitude helps shift your focus from negative thoughts to positive ones, increasing feelings of happiness, joy, and satisfaction. Evidence from two studies concluded that gratitude and life satisfaction have a reciprocal relationship. In this positive spiral, greater gratitude increases life satisfaction, which, in turn, increases gratitude.³
• Boosts neurotransmitter activity: Some experts state that practicing gratitude increases levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, which are linked to happiness and motivation, respectively.⁴
• Reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety: A meta-analysis of 64 studies concluded that gratitude practices led to significantly better mental health, including reduced symptoms of anxiety by 7.76% and depression by 6.89%.⁵ 
• Increases resilience: Gratitude helps to foster emotional resilience, or the ability to handle challenges, by priming your brain to look for lessons, growth, or silver linings. 
• Strengthens relationships: Expressing gratitude or appreciation for others can directly improve relationships and bonds. Even if your gratitude practice is private, practicing it can elevate your empathy and help you get closer to others.

Gratitude and Physical Health Benefits

You may not know gratitude is also linked to physical health benefits, especially stress and sleep. 

• Improves sleep quality: One study of 18- to 29-year-olds found that those scoring higher on a gratitude scale slept longer and had less daytime sleepiness.⁶ Another showed that adults who practiced gratitude had better sleep quality and duration with shorter sleep latency.⁷ The link is likely because gratitude reduces symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety.
• Lowers cortisol: Gratitude has been shown to reduce cortisol levels—our primary stress hormone. A study of pregnant women found that doing an online mindfulness and gratitude intervention 4 times a week for 3 weeks significantly lowered cortisol and self-reported stress.⁸
• Improves heart health: A systematic review concluded that gratitude may have a positive impact on markers of heart disease, including reducing blood pressure, heart rate, and stress.⁹ 

Improves cognitive function: Research with older adults found that those who practiced gratitude had significantly increased scores on memory and cognition tests, as well as larger volumes of the amygdala—the brain region responsible for emotional control and processing.¹⁰

Easy Ways to Practice Gratitude

You’ve probably already practiced gratitude a few times, like when a family member asks you to go around the table on Thanksgiving and name something you were thankful for that year. While this is a great start, there are many other ways to incorporate simple gratitude exercises into your everyday life. 

• Journaling: The most common way to practice gratitude is with a daily gratitude journal—either first thing in the morning, evening, or both. You can simply write down 3-5 (or more!) things you are grateful for in a bulleted list or expand upon them.
• Express gratitude and appreciation for others: Telling others (whether friends, family, or strangers) that you appreciate something they did for you is a form of gratitude practice. 
• Send thank you notes (or just-because notes): Similarly, writing down thanks or appreciative notes is a great way to show gratitude and improve relationships. Even if you don’t feel like sending it, writing gratitude letters can foster positive feelings (but everyone would love to receive a gratitude letter!).
• Mindfulness meditation: Mindfulness and gratitude go hand-in-hand, and some meditations can guide you into feelings of gratitude by focusing on the good things in your life. 
• Gratitude Jar: A fun practice is randomly writing down things you are grateful for and placing them in a jar, then looking at the notes every month.
• Go on a gratitude walk: Rather than listen to music or a podcast, walk around your neighborhood or in nature and appreciate everything you see to cultivate gratitude.

Benefits of Practicing Gratitude FAQs