The Effect of Gratitude on Health

5 min readAug 4, 2023

By Kathleen Helen Lisson, CLT

Research has found that gratitude is a positive emotion “related to the perception of having benefited from others’ behaviors” and feeling gratitude benefits “one’s emotional and social wellbeing” (Junca-Silva et al., 2023). The positive mood created by a gratitude practice has been shown to both reduce inflammatory biomarkers and increase our mitochondrial health index.

Why is gratitude important for caregivers? In the article ‘A Mitochondrial Health Index Sensitive to Mood and Caregiving Stress,’ researchers found that “daily emotional states and caregiving stress influence mitochondrial function.” They emphasized the effect of mood on the Mitochondrial Health Index (MHI), stating that “elevated positive mood at night was associated with higher MHI, and nightly positive mood was also a mediator of the association between caregiving and MHI” (Picard et al, 2018). It’s important to end the day with a positive mood. One way to encourage a positive emotional state is by practicing gratitude.

Gratitude journaling may also reduce inflammation. Researchers state that chronic stress is linked to alterations in autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, and problems with ANS function often lead to worse cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes. Researchers put together a gratitude journaling intervention in people with asymptomatic Stage B heart failure and found that increasing gratitude levels actually decreased inflammatory biomarkers linked to adverse cardiac remodeling (Redwine et al., 2016).

What was the researchers’ 8 week gratitude journal protocol?

Each day, record 3–5 things for which you are grateful
Take time to remember the day and focus on everything that is a source of gratitude
Personalize the list to your own experience
Search for the little differences that happen every day, not just the big stuff

(Redwine et al., 2016).

My Tips for keeping a gratitude journal

Be specific: Focus on the details of why and how the things in your life inspire gratitude
Go in depth: Spend a little time focusing on each item in the day’s journal entry
Focus on people as well as things: Remember to also focus on people for whom you are grateful
Keep it simple: You don’t need a fancy journal or a timer to start practicing gratitude journaling
Make it a habit: Set aside a time and place to write in the journal if it’s proving hard to adopt as a habit
Don’t make it a source of guilt: Feeling gratitude shouldn’t feel forced or make one feel guilty or ashamed. Some of us were embarrassed by loved ones and called ‘ungrateful’ when we tried to advocate for our needs. Gratitude shouldn’t feel manipulative

You can also try this guided meditation.

Sit in a comfortable position, and close your eyes if that feels comfortable

Bring to mind something you are grateful for …

Support of family and friends on your lymphedema journey

Nourishing food and movement

Ability to learn new things and have new experiences

Notice where you feel the sense of gratitude in your body.

If you don’t feel anything specific, that is OK, too.

Just return to your breath.

Just as we are grateful for our blessings, so we can be grateful for the blessings of others.

Holding someone you care deeply for in awareness, and silently say the following statements:

May you live in safety and health
May you have understanding
May you be happy
May you have ease of being

Hold all people with lymphedema in awareness, and silently say the following statements:

May you live in safety and health
May you have understanding
May you be happy
May you have ease of being

Hold yourself in loving awareness, and silently say the following statements:

May I live in safety and health
May I have understanding
May I be happy
May I have ease of being

Return to the breath, feeling any effect that focusing on gratitude has brought to your body.

If gratitude practice feels difficult, perhaps increasing mindfulness will help. Mindfulness is the ability to pay attention to the present moment without judgment. This skill will help because “mindfulness predisposes individuals to be open-minded, develops their ability to construct different interpretations and categories of reality” and gratitude depends on positive interpretations of daily events. Indeed, research has found that “individuals who experience more daily uplifts, feel better and are more grateful” (Junca-Silva et al., 2023).

You are invited to follow along with this Lovingkindness Guided meditation:

The book Mindful Strategies for Adult Clients with Adverse Childhood Experiences outlines trauma-informed, evidence-based methods for stress reduction that may help people with ACEs increase resilience. Find Mindful Strategies for Adult Clients with Adverse Childhood Experiences in paperback and kindle here: https://amzn.to/3NNZBjb

The book Stress Reduction for Lymphedema takes a look at published research on mind-body practices that may reduce the negative effects of stress in people with lymphedema. The book includes step-by-step instructions and is a must-read for people with lymphedema looking for evidence-based approaches to reduce the symptoms of stress. Find Stress Reduction for Lymphedema in paperback and kindle here: https://amzn.to/3Q862Q1

Kathleen Lisson is board certified in therapeutic massage and bodywork and is a Certified Lymphedema Therapist. She has spoken at the AVLS, FDRS, MLD UK, S4OM and NLN conferences. She is a coauthor of the Standard of Care for Lipedema in the United States and the author of six books, including Stress Reduction for Lymphedema. She lives with her husband Arun and their dog in sunny San Diego, CA. Find her on Instagram and Threads at @StressReductionForLymphedema

Resources:

Ana Junça-Silva A, Mosteo L, Rueff Lopes R. The role of mindfulness on the relationship between daily micro-events and daily gratitude: A within-person analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 200, 2023, 111891, ISSN 0191–8869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111891. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886922003968

Picard M, Prather AA, Puterman E, Cuillerier A, Coccia M, Aschbacher K, Burelle Y, Epel ES. A Mitochondrial Health Index Sensitive to Mood and Caregiving Stress. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Jul 1;84(1):9–17. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.01.012. Epub 2018 Feb 3. PMID: 29525040; PMCID: PMC6014908. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6014908/

Redwine, L. S., Henry, B. L., Pung, M. A., Wilson, K., Chinh, K., Knight, B., Jain, S., Rutledge, T., Greenberg, B., Maisel, A., & Mills, P. J. (2016). Pilot Randomized Study of a Gratitude Journaling Intervention on Heart Rate Variability and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Patients With Stage B Heart Failure. Psychosomatic medicine, 78(6), 667–676. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000316 Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927423/

Written by Kathleen Lisson