Studies are indicating a connection between important psychological connections and health.

Recently, much evidence has emerged suggesting that gratitude is strongly linked to all aspects of well-being. Based on this, promising clinical interventions have been created, which fit with calls to investigate how disorder can be improved by promoting positive functioning and psychological strengths. And this isn't based only on studies that were short term, but large ones that took years of follow up and evaluation.

Looking at gratitude and death rates among 49,275 older women as part of the Nurses’ Health Study. Gratitude Questionnaire: In 2016, women (mean age: 79) filled out a six-item survey where they rated how much they agreed or disagreed with statements like “I have so much to be thankful for” and “If I had to list everything I felt grateful for, it would be a very long list.”

Researchers followed up in 2019 to find out who had died in the study group. They looked at both all-cause mortality and specific causes, like heart disease, cancer, lung diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, infections, and injuries. According to the causes they looked at, cardiovascular disease was the most common cause of death among the 4,608 deaths they saw during the study time.

To get the most accurate estimate of how gratitude affects death, the researchers used a “conservative approach” that considered sociodemographic information, health history, and lifestyle factors such as optimism, social participation, religious involvement, and gratitude.

Being thankful seemed to protect against every type of death, but most especially against heart disease. Over the next four years, nurses who scored in the top third had a 9% lower risk of death from any cause than nurses who scored in the bottom third.

Skeptics might think that the study is skewed because nurses may be particular kinds of people who choose that profession and, therefore, are not representative of the universe of people who might experience gratitude. Not to worry; many other studies looked at other cultures and found similar results. Therefore, gratitude seems to have a strong, health-promoting effect on our bodies and lives. Naturally, it goes without saying that that also affects our lifespan.

Getting Into a Gratitude Mindset

Adding minor acts of thanks to your day is the best way to get into the habit of being thankful. One way to make your life more grateful is to:

Writing it down: Write down something good that happened either at night or in the morning. Set aside a notebook or journal just for gratitude so you can think about those times and remember them.

There's an additional plus to writing the good things in your life down on paper, which concerns cursive writing. We know that this can strengthen memories, and what better to do than keep our happy memories strong in our minds?

So take a pen or pencil or whatever and write it all down at the end of the day. And don't forget that the good things in your life can be small ones, not major events. Getting up and being able to walk to the kitchen table can be seen as a good thing because not everybody can do that.

Pause: A lot of us say “thanks” all the time without thinking about it. When you say it to yourself again, stop and think about what you are grateful for. Yes, you can thank yourself for some of the things that you do and it's not bad if you say it out loud.

Remember the very famous tennis star, Jimmy Connors? What was one thing he was famous for doing on the court? Right, he yelled to himself about something he did right or wrong and reminded himself what to do next. Remind yourself about the good things you do and what you need to do next.

Changing the way you think: During the day, you might feel upset or angry. When that happens, take a step back and look at the problem from a different angle. Sometimes, it takes a little stepping away from the issue before you can see it and then make any necessary changes. Not every solution comes immediately to mind, so give yourself a bit of time.

Send someone a quick note telling them why you are grateful for them, or have your family talk about something they are thankful for every night at dinner. We don't need to wait for Thanksgiving to say what we're thankful for.

We should do this more often during the week and remind ourselves of all those things that we have allowed to slip by without giving them sufficient notice. Yes, there are plenty of things if you look for them. I'll never forget the Asian psychiatrist who told me about a saying in his country. "What the mind does not know, the eye does not see." What is your eye not seeing?

When I taught undergraduate psychology courses, I always showed my students the film "Eye of the Beholder." In it, a specific circumstance is seen through the eyes of different people, each colored by their individual personality or need. It really hit the mark with the students, and they questioned how they perceived things, not just in class but also in their homes, where they worked, and in public. The film was always a big hit.

Start today, don't put it off, and help yourself. See that your life really does have good things in it, but you have missed them because you weren't looking for them. Begin to look and remember, "Seek, and you shall find."