Giving thanks for all that’s good in your life has scientifically-proven benefits including improved physical and mental health, better sleep and boosted self-esteem. And it’s not just your personal life that gratitude can enhance. Business relationships can benefit too. As we explain in our latest blog.
What is Gratitude?
Gratitude is a state of appreciation and thankfulness usually expressed by counting your blessings or reflecting on people or situations you have to be grateful for.
It can be easy to forget about being thankful in the thick of busy working lives. As your mind is pulled between emails, meetings and work, there’s little time for reflection or appreciation of all that’s well in your world.
However, feeling or expressing gratitude doesn’t need to take up huge portions of time as it can be shown little and often, bringing a wide range of wellbeing benefits that have been proven by psychologists.
The Benefits of Gratitude
In one gratitude-based study, Froh et al randomly assigned teenagers to participate in one of three groups – a gratitude, ‘hassles’ or a neutral control group. They found that counting blessings was associated with enhanced self-reported gratitude, optimism and life satisfaction as well as decreased negative outcomes. These effects were felt immediately post-test and at a three-week follow up, demonstrating the longevity that gratitude can have.
From a neurological perspective, when someone expresses gratitude, the brain releases dopamine and serotonin, hormones that create feelings of happiness. One study revealed that when people wrote letters of gratitude in addition to therapy sessions, they felt better and recovered sooner.
By regularly expressing gratitude, we can create long-lasting feelings of happiness. Which is why gratitude is sometimes considered to be a “natural antidepressant”.
There are many other benefits of gratitude including reducing pain, as an older but still relevant study from 2003 reveals: patients who kept a gratitude journal reported reduced pain symptoms.
Gratitude has also been shown to improve sleep quality thanks to its impact on the brain. When a person witnesses an act of kindness, a part of the brain called the hypothalamus is activated. This helps to regulate the bodily functions controlled by the hypothalamus, one of which is sleep.
How Gratitude Makes Work a Better Place To Be
Being thankful can also go beyond an individual’s personal life to positively impact the business world:
- Gratitude greases the wheels of relationships – saying thank you to new acquaintances makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship with you. So don’t hold back on sending a quick thank you note to a colleague who’s helped you out.
- Enhance empathy, reduce aggression – a 2012 study by the University of Kentucky found participants with higher levels of gratitude were less likely to retaliate when given negative feedback. They were also more sensitive and empathic.
- Boost performance through thankfulness – a 2014 study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology found gratitude increased athlete’s self-esteem, an essential component for optimal performance.
- Boost resilience with gratitude – two studies have found that gratitude helped minimise post-traumatic stress disorder and boost resilience following disturbing experiences. By recognising everything they had to be grateful for, individuals were able to be far more resilient.
There are a range of ways to help employees develop gratitude, including methods adopted by journalists and researchers.
As part of an article for the Guardian exploring the link between gratitude and wellbeing, Moya Sarner wrote a daily list of experiences she was grateful for that day and found it a: “useful tool for reflection, for noticing things I might otherwise take for granted.”
She also spoke to Dr Fuschia Sirois, a psychologist at the University of Sheffield who was working on a gratitude project. The project provided people in Sheffield with a wall of gratitude where they could highlight their appreciation for various aspects of their lives.
Based on research, which shows that noticing three things to be grateful for each day over a two-week period can have beneficial wellbeing effects lasting for up to six months, the project asked people in Sheffield to share their ‘three things’. And, by reading about what others are thankful for, the project aimed to help people focus on the positives in their lives and in the lives of those around them.
These are practical ways you could ask your employees to engage with gratitude. By doing so, employees will benefit mentally and physically from the benefits thankfulness brings taking gratitude from a lifestyle concept to one that can make a big difference for your organisation.
Let’s leave Sarner with the last comment:
“Gratitude is far more than a slogan on a mug – it is a unique predictor of wellbeing, a protective cloak that could help shield those who feel it from poor mental health.”
To boost the resilience and performance of your organisation as well as the health and wellbeing of your people, contact Clare on 07594 946166 or at [email protected].
