02 Jan GRATITUD INCREASES WELL-BEING
Researchers from the University of California, Davis and the University of Miami found that after regularly expressing gratitude for 10 weeks, study participants reported feeling more optimistic about their lives.
Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation.
4 benefits of expressing gratitud.
1. Gratitude helps the brain process other positive emotions, including joy.
Gratitude increases dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain, which are key neurotransmitters that give feelings of contentment. Routinely practicing gratitude helps experience increased positive emotions including interest, excitement, joy and pride.
2. Gratitude promotes optimism, which leads to greater well-being.
Overall well-being seems to be influenced by optimism, which can be strengthened by gratitude.
3. Expressing gratitude strengthens relationships.
Healthy relationships make us happy. According to the longest-running study on human development by Harvard University, the No. 1 predictor of health and happiness in a person’s life is the quality of their relationships.
4. People that receive gratefulness are more likely to pay it forward.
As positive psychology researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., wrote “Grateful people are more likely to help others [because] they become aware of kind and caring acts and feel compelled to reciprocate.”
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