The Power of Gratitude and How to Utilize it for Everyday Life.
Gratitude can help you in everything from sleep quality to heart health to your own work.
Practicing gratitude combats negative thoughts, feelings, and even actions associated with depression. A meta-analysis of depression/gratitude studies shows a correlation between gratitude and lower levels of depression.
Gratitude goes beyond mental health. One randomized controlled trial found a significant decrease in diastolic blood pressure. Diastolic blood pressure refers to how hard your heart pumps. If heart rate is the frequency, diastolic blood pressure is the intensity. In other words, being grateful can improve heart health.
Simply thinking grateful thoughts can relax you. Practicing gratitude before bed can contribute to better sleep quality. Sleep is vital. Simply put, less sleep equals less life.
Gratitude makes a difference in the workplace.
When a manager regularly expresses gratitude to their team members, those team members perform better and experience higher job satisfaction.
Let’s look at a specific example. The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) wanted to improve its alumni donations. There is only so much you can do to encourage alums, so instead, they focused on their efforts. Researchers at the Wharton School of UPenn split their call center into two groups. One acted as the control group, soliciting donations as they normally would. The other received a pep talk. The Director of Annual Giving expressed her gratitude for their fundraising efforts. The pep talk group experienced a surge in motivation and made 50% more fundraising calls than the control group.
My own experience with nonprofits supports this. A member from the board of directors showing up and expressing gratitude, whether to donors or volunteers, makes a huge difference. Those donors are more likely to continue or increase their donations. Admittedly, this is more anecdotal than the studies cited above.
Even animals practice gratitude through “reciprocal altruism.”
If one animal helps another out, they will try to return the favor. Animals will help others of the species, even if they are unrelated. Since animals cannot say “thank you,” evolutionary researchers see reciprocal altruism as an expression of gratitude. One researcher found that chimpanzees were more likely to share their food with a chimpanzee that groomed them.
Imagine what that can do to your workplace! The altruism, not the grooming.
So gratitude is great, but what does “gratitude” mean?
It’s not as simple as a “please” and “thank you.” The study that found “a significant decrease in diastolic blood pressure” found those results after participants kept a gratitude journal. The studies reporting a correlation between gratitude and lower levels of depression experienced a stronger correlation with long-term habitual gratitude.
It may feel silly, but gratitude works better when performed habitually. It’s not a one-and-done action; gratitude needs to be repeated. Gratitude shows better results when directed into something tangible. Gratitude journals appeal to scientific studies because they are quantifiable.
However, there are diverse ways to express gratitude. As mentioned above, managers and higher-ups can express gratitude verbally. Sending a thank you email or card can strengthen your relationship with that person.
Different cultures and backgrounds express gratitude differently. The obvious examples are prayer and meditation. Group prayer can improve the sense of community within its members. Private prayer and meditation calms the mind, helping us focus and relax.
But how? How can something as simple and intangible as gratitude affect so many aspects of our lives?
In the growing body of research, there is a correlation between habitual gratitude and a myriad of health benefits. However, research is still trying to piece together the causational relationship.
Correlation is not causation.
In some cases, the cause is obvious. Gratitude in the workplace focuses on relationships and attitudes. A boss who thanks team members for specific activities cultivates mutual respect. Gratitude between teams fosters a sense of belonging. Gratitude as an expression serves as a tangible result. “Your work resulted in this, so thank you for that.” That result can serve as a brief but effective motivator.
A grateful workplace influences attitudes towards jobs. People are more likely to stay at jobs where they feel appreciated. People are also more likely to stay at companies where they feel they are making a difference. Expressions of gratitude are just one component to making a difference.
Perhaps some benefits of gratitude are just the benefits of habits.
Practicing gratitude before sleep can contribute to better sleep quality… but so does a nightly routine. Sleep is a vital component of health. Consistent, quality sleep can prevent heart disease and major health problems. Nightly routines show great benefits during childhood development. However, many of us in our busy day-to-day lives deprioritize sleep.
To me, practicing gratitude before bed sounds like a good component of a healthy routine. Gratitude is conducive to restful sleep but is not the only activity contributing to sleep quality. It’s important to calm your mind before bed. Positive, relaxing thoughts activate your parasympathetic nervous system. That part of your nervous system tells your body to relax. It also regulates the mundane bodily functions. It counterbalances the sympathetic nervous system associated with the fight-or-flight response. That is the system telling you to “wake up and focus!”
If you exercise right before bed, your sympathetic nervous system is active, which is not conducive to sleep. That is also why trying to tire out children by making them run around before bed just hypes them up.
So gratitude, when part of a routine, can train your body to sleep soundly, thus contributing to better overall health.
The causational relationship between gratitude and depression is still a mystery.
The correlation between gratitude and many of its health benefits is probably caused by complex, undiscovered relationships.
The meta-analysis of depression and gratitude studies I referred to earlier acknowledges that causality is a mystery. The researchers suggest that gratitude may contribute to “positive-psychology constructs such as optimism and hope.” However, more research is needed to nail down the cause.
“It may be that gratitude reduces depression… or depression may reduce gratitude. It is also possible that a third variable, such as specific genes… could lead to both high gratitude and low depression. Finally, there might be reciprocal and continuous relationships between gratitude and depression such that increases in the experience of gratitude lead to alleviation of symptoms of depression, and alleviation of depression in turn allows individuals to more fully experience and be grateful for positive elements of life.”
~ Jo Iodice, John Malouff, and Nicola Schutte. The Association between Gratitude and Depression: A Meta-Analysis.
If someone is having a severe mental health crisis, “listing three things you are grateful for” is not going to help. But again, it’s about habits. In his fantastic book Atomic Habits, James Clear explains that well-established, practically automatic habits can make hard days easier.
It seems to me that habitual gratitude can combat depression by reframing our thoughts and emotions. Depression lies. Gratitude helps us step out of that negativity.
How can we practice gratitude for a better life and work?
Based on the studies above, gratitude works best when expressed externally and repeatedly.
As I suggested above, some of the benefits may just be the benefits of healthy habits. We can all improve our habits, and for that, I recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear.
As for gratitude itself, let's start with a journalling exercise. So open up your notes apps or write in your existing journal three to five things you are thankful for today.
It might feel silly or childish to do so, but humor me here.
You can be grateful for something that happened to you— something as simple as feeling the sun's warmth on your cheek. Or something as significant as visiting a family member. Be grateful for what you’ve done, even if your proudest moment of the day was getting out of bed. You can even be grateful for things that don’t affect you! If you see a stranger give up their seat for an older person, be grateful for that random act of kindness. If you see people laughing together at a café, be grateful for their joy. If you see a dog wagging its tail… be grateful for the existence of dogs. I know I am.
I guarantee that even on your worst days, there is at least one thing you can be thankful for.
“Every day above ground is a great day, remember that.”
~Armando Christian Pérez, Time of our Lives, Album: Globalization, 2014.
One article I read recommended practicing gratitude for 15 minutes a day, five days a week, for at least six weeks to start seeing health benefits. Based on the studies above, that makes sense, but that’s not how most of us approach feelings. If the journalling exercise above feels forced, weird, or awkward, try just a minute a day. Just take a minute after work or before bed to think about what you’re grateful for. Do not judge yourself for your thoughts. The goal is just to become accustomed to gratitude.
Again, everybody expresses gratitude differently. If you prefer the calming contemplation of meditation or the religious enrichment of prayer, do those. Do whatever feels best for you.
Gratitude in the workplace works best to improve relationships.
If you apply the above exercise to your own work, then that’s a good way of seeing your achievements. Journalling exercises can help you see the big picture and prioritize what you need to tackle down the road.
Try writing a simple thank you email to a client, a lead you’ve talked to, or even a colleague. You do not need to be a master writer. A straightforward “thank you for taking the time to talk with me yesterday” will do. Remember, it’s not a one-and-done thing. It’s a habit.
If you are in a position of authority, there are plenty of opportunities to express gratitude. Evaluations mainly serve to highlight and mitigate weaknesses. However, expressing gratitude for your employee’s strong suits can motivate them. Quarterly reviews are not frequent enough to distill those desired attributes.
Try highlighting the good work of your team members in internal communications. You can thank them at the end of projects, the closing of deals, or the completion of assignments. Show them the fruits of their labor.
Frequent “thank-you’s” can appear ingenuine. As my mother used to say, “only say so when you mean it.” The goal of gratitude is not to manipulate people. The goal is to strengthen our existing relationships and appreciate the attributes of others.
In conclusion, gratitude is not a magic spell to solve your problems. But it certainly helps with everyday life.
Your relationship to gratitude is very revealing of your character. Expressing gratitude— whether internally, externally, to yourself, or to others— contributes to your character.
Thank you for reading!
If you’ve made it this far, let’s connect!
References:
Clear, J. (2019). Atomic habits. Lifestyle Publishing.
De Waal, F. B. M. (1997). The Chimpanzee’s service economy: Food for grooming. Evolution and Human Behavior, 18(6), 375–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1090-5138(97)00085-8
Harvard Health. (2021, August 14). Giving thanks can make you happier. https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
Iodice JA, Malouff JM, Schutte NS (2021) The Association between Gratitude and Depression: A Meta-Analysis. Int J Depress Anxiety 4:024. doi.org/10.23937/2643-4059/1710024
Jackowska M, Brown J, Ronaldson A, Steptoe A. The impact of a brief gratitude intervention on subjective well-being, biology and sleep. J Health Psychol. 2016 Oct;21(10):2207-17. doi: 10.1177/1359105315572455. Epub 2015 Mar 2. PMID: 25736389.
Pacheco, D., & Pacheco, D. (2023, November 8). Bedtime routines for children. Sleep Foundation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/bedtime-routine