People who wrote down five things they were grateful for each week for 10 weeks felt more optimistic and exercised more

Gratitude journals are now a staple of self-help advice. The scientific interest behind them took off with a set of experiments published in 2003 by psychologists Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami.

In the first of their studies, university students were split into three groups and asked to keep a weekly journal for 10 weeks. One group wrote down up to five things they were grateful for. Another wrote about up to five hassles or irritations. A third wrote about neutral events that had affected them.

By the end of the study, the gratitude group felt better about their lives as a whole and more optimistic about the coming week than the hassles group. They also reported fewer physical complaints, such as headaches, and spent more time exercising, about an hour and a half more per week than the hassles group.

In follow-up studies, the researchers tried a daily version of the exercise and tested it with adults who had neuromuscular diseases. Those keeping gratitude lists reported more positive mood, more connection with others, and in the patient group, better sleep.

Why might gratitude help? One idea is that it shifts attention toward what is going well, counteracting the brain’s natural tendency to focus on problems. Another is that it strengthens social bonds, since much of what people are grateful for involves other people.

Later research has painted a more cautious picture. A 2016 meta-analysis led by Don Davis found that gratitude interventions did improve well-being, but the effects were small, and they were not clearly better than other positive activities when those were used as a comparison. Some studies have also found that writing about gratitude every day can feel like a chore and may lose its effect, while doing it once or a few times a week may work better.

For anyone interested in trying it, a simple approach is to write down a few specific things you are grateful for once or twice a week, focusing on people rather than things and on details rather than general statements. Writing a letter of thanks to someone who has helped you, and delivering it, is another well-studied version that has shown strong short-term effects on happiness.

Gratitude practices are not a cure for depression or a substitute for treatment, and they work better for some people than others. But as a low-cost habit, the evidence suggests they can give everyday mood a modest lift.

Sources

Emmons RA, McCullough ME. “Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003.
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.377

Davis DE, Choe E, Meyers J, et al. “Thankful for the little things: A meta-analysis of gratitude interventions.” Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2016.
DOI: 10.1037/cou0000107