Gratitude Practice: What the Research Shows
Gratitude practice has moved from spiritual tradition into scientific enquiry over the past two decades.
What researchers have found is remarkable: a simple practice of noticing what we're grateful for creates measurable changes in our brains, our bodies, our relationships, and our capacity to meet life's challenges.
This guide brings together key findings from gratitude research, organised by benefit and mechanism, to help you understand why this practice works - and how to apply it in your own life.
The Foundation: Does Gratitude Practice Actually Work?
The research that really put gratitude practice on the map came from Robert Emmons. People who kept gratitude journals for just 10 weeks reported feeling 25% happier, sleeping better, and even exercising more. Simply paying attention to what we're grateful for can create shifts in multiple areas of our lives.
A comprehensive review of gratitude research found consistent benefits across different ages, cultures, and life circumstances. This isn't just for people who have easy lives - gratitude practice supports us especially when things are difficult.
It Has to Be Real
The same research also found it has to be real - which can mean digging deep to find the positives. Pretending we're grateful when in fact we're angry, jealous, or frustrated doesn't have the same effect, so it's important to find what it is we can feel truly grateful for - even if that something might feel unusual in some way.
This is important because some of us may have experienced gratitude as something forced, or believed we're 'only doing it right' if we bypass the hard stuff. The evidence shows otherwise.
How Gratitude Changes the Brain
Research from UCLA shows that when we practice gratitude regularly, we're actually reshaping our brain. The prefrontal cortex - the part of our brain responsible for decision-making and emotional regulation - shows increased activity.
And this isn't temporary.
Brain scans show the changes persist for months, even when we're not actively practicing gratitude. It's actually reshaping our neural pathways in lasting ways.
The Social Impact: Gratitude and Reciprocity
Robin Wall-Kimmerer, in The Serviceberry, writes about the relationship between gratitude and reciprocity:
"If our first response to the receipt of gifts is gratitude, then our second is reciprocity: to give a gift in return… Gratitude and reciprocity are the currency of a gift economy, and they have the remarkable property of multiplying every exchange."
This isn't just poetic - it's evidenced in research. Harvard researchers found that when people feel grateful, they're 50% more likely to help others - even strangers. Gratitude doesn't just make us feel better, it makes us more generous, more willing to contribute to our communities.
This is part of the social, relational connectivity - or glue - that gratitude helps create.
Holding Complexity: Non-Toxic Positivity
Research shows that gratitude and difficult emotions can exist simultaneously. We don't have to resolve our pain or bypass our grief to practice gratitude. In fact, gratitude can help us hold complexity - to acknowledge both what's hard and what sustains us.
Gratitude practice supports us in seeing the challenges around us and still being grateful for other things - which in turn helps us observe others' challenges with compassion rather than pity or turning them into victims or threats.
The Immediate and Long-Term Rewards
Gratitude practice offers both immediate and sustained benefits.
Immediate Rewards
It's not purely altruistic - there's an immediate, some might say delicious, personal reward when we practice it. Our brains release dopamine and serotonin - the same chemicals released when we receive something pleasurable. This means the practice itself becomes rewarding, creating a positive feedback loop.
Building Resilience
Research also shows that people who practice gratitude have lower cortisol levels - our stress hormone. They respond to difficulties with more resilience.
Gratitude doesn't eliminate challenges, but it changes our capacity to meet them.
Enabling Forgiveness
Research also demonstrates a clear link between gratitude and forgiveness.
Studies show that people who regularly practice gratitude are more willing to forgive others, even for serious transgressions. This appears to work through multiple pathways: gratitude broadens our perspective beyond immediate grievances, strengthens our sense of relational connection, and reduces feelings of resentment and revenge.
In challenging times - perhaps when facing groups or individuals who hold starkly opposite views - forgiveness can be a key tool in enabling healthy discourse and resolution of challenges.
And of course, forgiveness stretches out… and in.
Sometimes noticing what we're grateful for about ourselves can be a key part of how we can step closer to caring more kindly for ourselves too.
How to Practice
The approach I offer is simple.
I write 21 things I’m grateful for each night - and I allow my practice to ebb and flow. Sometimes writing every night for many months… and then gently allowing the practice to rest for a while.
This is about a personal commitment, so go with what works best for you. A few thoughts to carry with you as you explore the practice…
Whether you write a paragraph or 3 bullet points - or 7 or 17 or 21 - the number matters less than the authenticity and the consistency.
It can be useful to habit stack the practice, particularly at first. Perhaps with your first cup of tea or during a break at lunch, or at the end of the day.
Write in your journal, your notes on your phone, or in your Instagram stories - the medium doesn't matter. What matters is the attention you're paying to what sustains you.
If you choose to practice regularly, hold that commitment with compassion. It can be hard to do at times - and it is possible.
Mainly… experiment.
Remembering however you approach it, it's all useful.
→ If you’re curious to explore this further you are welcome to stay connected for more guidance and exploration of gratitude and other ways to practice compassionate self-enquiry.
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References
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84.
Fox, G. R., Kaplan, J., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. (2015). Neural correlates of gratitude. Frontiers in Psychology, 6.
Grant, A. M., & Gino, F. (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98.
Karremans, J. C., Van Lange, P. A. M., & Holland, R. W. (2005). Forgiveness and its associations with prosocial thinking, feeling, and doing beyond the relationship with the offender. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31.
Kimmerer, R. W. (2024). The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Scribner.
Toussaint, L., & Friedman, P. (2009). Forgiveness, gratitude, and well-being: The mediating role of affect and beliefs. Journal of Happiness Studies.
Worthen, V. E., & Isakson, R. L. (2007). A phenomenological investigation of the experience of everyday life events and gratitude. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 47.
Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30.