Exploring the All-round Benefits of Gratitude to our Well-being

Welcome to the second article in the Gratitude Adventure series, where we will explore the all-around benefit of gratitude to our well-being.

Let us start by reflecting on the profound words of thought leaders on the subject of gratitude. In his book Gratitude Works! renowned gratitude researcher Robert Emmons asserts that “Gratitude is like fertilizer for the mind, spreading connections and improving its function in nearly every realm of experience.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, influential German Lutheran pastor, and anti-Nazi dissident, said, “It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” There is something powerful about gratitude that allows us to flourish and promotes our productivity.

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PROFOUND BENEFITS OF GRATITUDE FOR INDIVIDUAL WELL-BEING

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), “At a minimum, well-being includes the presence of positive emotions and moods (e.g., contentment, happiness), the absence of negative emotions (e.g., depression, anxiety), satisfaction with life, fulfillment, and positive functioning.” Well-being is characterized by good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress. Well-being is multidimensional, with a scope that covers our physical, spiritual, emotional, psychological, social, economic, and more.?

Well-being requires a balance across all dimensions of life. Physical fitness has a huge appeal and has evolved into an industry of its own. However, physical fitness by itself is not sufficient to attain well-being. In a controlled study that compared a group of employed adults who thrived in multiple dimensions of well-being with another group of employed adults that thrived only in physical well-being; it was observed that the adults with rounded well-being performed better in terms of workplace productivity, engaged better at work, and experienced higher workplace satisfaction. Despite the proven benefit of rounded well-being that goes beyond the physical and cut across social, emotional, economic, and spiritual well-being, it is sad to see a significant number of people in society who struggle to attain rounded well-being. This struggle hurts performance at work, learning productivity at school, and family relationships at home. The beauty of gratitude is that it promotes well-being across multiple dimensions of life. Now, let us take a closer look at how gratitude positively impacts different dimensions of well-being.

Physical Well-Being

This is a dimension of well-being that includes making a habit of healthy behavior, such as proper nutrition, adequate exercise and abstaining from harmful habits. In The Science of Gratitude, a whitepaper prepared by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, it was shown that gratitude can promote physical health in the following ways, to mention only a few:

• Grateful people report better physical well-being, are more likely to engage in healthy activities and are more willing to seek help for health concerns.
• Among people with heart failure, people with a lifestyle of gratitude (dispositional gratitude) reported better sleep, less fatigue, and lower levels of cellular inflammation.
• In a longitudinal study of patients with chronic illnesses, patients with a lifestyle of gratitude had fewer symptoms of depression.
• Gratitude might even help to prevent chronic illness. A study found an association between stronger feelings of gratitude and lower levels of hemoglobin HbA1c (a biomarker), which, when found in high levels, is associated with diabetes, a variety of cancers, and chronic kidney disease.

Emotional Well-Being

This compromises the presence of positive emotions and moods in life. Emotions such as contentment, happiness, optimism, self-esteem, self-acceptance, self-realization, and more. Emotional well-being is crucial because it contributes to our overall feelings of life satisfaction and enlarges our social capacity to form healthy relationships. Still gleaning from the impressive review of studies in the whitepaper titled “The Science of Gratitude,” gratitude promotes our emotional well-being in the following ways:

• People with a lifestyle of gratitude report life satisfaction, happiness, hope, and positive moods.
• Daily feelings of gratitude are positively associated with improved well-being in relation to meaning, self-realization, and a pleasurable appreciation of life.
• Among university students, folks with more gratitude toward God, an appreciation of God’s blessings, gratitude toward others, and a grateful outlook on adversity reported more life satisfaction.
• Studies show gratitude can minimize if not cancel out negative emotions (e.g., envy, resentment, and regret) that fuel unhappiness, burnout, stress, and depression.
• Some studies showed that gratitude can counteract materialistic tendencies.
• A lifestyle of gratitude improves self-esteem, as explained “when a person feels grateful, they often view themselves as benefiting from another person’s generosity, leading them to feel valued.”

Psychological Well-being

In a Forbes article on the scientifically proven benefits of gratitude, Amy Morin points out that gratitude not only reduces stress but it also plays a major role in overcoming trauma. The article references studies that found “Vietnam War veterans with higher levels of gratitude experienced lower rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” and also reveals that “gratitude was a major contributor to resilience following the terrorist attacks on September 11.”

Evidence shows that gratitude can help with recovery from harmful addictions. Studies reviewed in the whitepaper provide encouraging evidence that found:

• Some gratitude interventions (structured activities intended to cultivate gratitude) can improve symptoms of mental health, such as decreased depression and anxiety.
• People that adopt a lifestyle of gratitude report having fewer suicidal thoughts and attempted suicides.

Social Well-being

Gratitude is a gateway to an ever-expanding world of relationships. A grateful person rarely travels alone through the journey of life. Gratitude has a way of attracting positive relationships into our lives. The wise words of the Chinese philosopher Confucius buttress this point. “Virtue is never left to stand alone. He who has it will have neighbors.” From my personal life experience, I can confirm and confidently assert that he who has gratitude will attract helpers; he who has gratitude will enjoy the favor of people, and he who has gratitude will be esteemed in the eyes of both God and people.

The positive ramifications of gratitude on our relationships cannot be overemphasized. Gratitude expressed through thanksgiving, and thankful gestures can cause a new acquaintance to seek a deeper and continuing relationship. Acknowledging other people’s contributions opens their hearts toward you and unlocks new opportunities for you. Two key ways in which gratitude strengthens our social bonds and relationships are:

• Gratitude fuels positive social behaviors, otherwise called prosocial actions.
• Gratitude curb selfishness and in turn, fuels generosity toward other people.

From the foregoing, The beauty of gratitude is that it promotes well-being across multiple dimensions of life. When you add the benefit of gratitude to spiritual well-being (something I leave for another article), it takes the positive effect on our well-being to a whole new level.

In conclusion, gratitude is pregnant with many blessings and will do you great good.

To learn more about gratitude, take a look at Uno Okon's new book?Relentless Gratitude .?Also, visit?www.relentlessgratitude.org

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

1. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL): Well-Being Concepts,” accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm .
2. Tchiki Davis, “What Is Well-Being? Definition, Types, and Well-Being Skills,” Psychology Today Canada, January 2, 2019, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/click-here-happiness/201901/what-is-well-being-definition-types-and-well-being-skills .
3. Pendell, “Wellness vs. Wellbeing: What’s the Difference?,” Gallup, March 22, 2021, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/340202/wellness-wellbeing-difference.aspx .
4. Employee Well-Being,” University of Wisconsin System, July 21, 2021, https://www.wisconsin.edu/ohrwd/well-being/ .
5. Amy Morin, “7 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Gratitude That Will Motivate You To Give Thanks Year-Round,” Forbes, November 23, 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2014/11/23/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-of-gratitude-that-will-motivate-you-to-give-thanks-year-round/ .
6. Summer Allen, “The Science of Gratitude” (Greater Good Science Center, May 2018), https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf .