Thanksgiving: Expressing Gratitude Enhances our Well-Being

Source: Grisson Air Reserve Base

For past Thanksgiving holidays, I've blogged about some interesting research regarding the benefits of expressing gratitude. For instance, last year, I wrote about experimental research conducted by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough that demonstrated the benefits associated with counting our blessings.   

This year, I'd like to share the findings from another important study about gratitude.  Several years ago, Sheung-Tak Cheng, Pui Ki Tsui, John Lam published a paper titled, "Improving Mental Health in Health Care Practitioners: Randomized Controlled Trial of a Gratitude Intervention."  In explaining the meaning and impact of their research, the scholars wrote, "This study revealed that an intervention involving writing gratitude events led to a reduction in perceived stress and depressive symptoms among health care practitioners. It is possible that such positive effects among these professionals can also lead to an improvement in both productivity and quality of patient services."

What precisely did these researchers do in their study?  102 physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists participated in this research project.  The health care practitioners wrote diaries about work-related events twice per week for four weeks.  The scholars directed some participants to describe events about which they were thankful.  They directed others to describe something that annoyed them.  Naturally, the scholars included a control condition in their study.   They found that the gratitude diary entries often described receiving assistance from colleagues or benefiting in some other way from a constructive relationship with a co-worker.   The scholars found that writing about gratitude reduced perceived stress and depressive symptoms among the healthcare practitioners.  In short, expressing gratitude seemed to have a positive effect on the workers' well-being.  The scholars speculate that these positive effects might actually enhance the care of patients, though they do not measure that in this particular study.  

We often hear about the importance of self-reflection.  Some leaders take a few moments at the end of each day or week to reflect upon what they have accomplished recently, as well as the mistakes that they have made.  This type of reflection can enhance learning and lead to continuous improvement.  These studies suggest that these moments of self-reflection ought to also include some time for considering those things and people for which we feel very grateful.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I'm certainly grateful to those who take the time to read this blog! 

Count Your Blessings

Arthur Brooks' article in this weekend's New York Times pointed me to a fascinating study about giving thanks.   In 2003, Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough published a paper titled, "Counting Blessings vs. Burdens:  An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life."  The authors begin their paper by quoting Charles Dickens:  "Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."   The scholars asked some research subjects to list things for which they were grateful over a period of several weeks.  Other subjects kept lists of "hassles" - and a third control group listed neutral events.   The researchers also asked all subjects to keep records of their moods, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals during this time.  The people who kept lists of things for which they were grateful "felt better about their lives as a whole, and were optimistic regarding their expectations for the upcoming week.  They reported fewer physical complaints and reported spending significantly more time exercising."   In short, focusing on gratitude and thanksgiving can be good for you.  So, try to put aside the hassles and the worries for the next few days at least, and attempt to focus on those things for which we should be thankful.   Then let's all try to make it a routine practice to spend more time being grateful and less time being annoyed.    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!