How will you be spending your Thanksgiving Day?
Maybe you’ll be hosting friends and loved ones for a day-long feast — and with it the cooking, cleaning and other stress-filled activities that ensure everyone else in your home has a great time.
If you’re not entertaining, perhaps you’ll be spending the day and night eating and drinking more than you normally do — and doing so with fare you rarely consume any other time of year, thus increasing your chances for indigestion and/or slippage into an end-of-meal food coma.
Some people will be working on Thanksgiving. For those folks who work the holiday — and seriously, bless all of you! — I’m forever reminded of a line Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky says to Talia Shire’s Adrian in the original Rocky film: “To you it’s Thanksgiving. To me it’s Thursday.”
While some of us may try to maintain at least a semblance of our workout and nutritional regimens (looking at you, Turkey Trot 5K runners!), it turns out there’s another way to incorporate what should be the true meaning of the holiday — and improve your health while do so: gratitude journaling.
Health benefits of gratitude journaling
In recent years, the practice of gratitude journaling has become more pervasive as folks nationwide recognize the myriad ways it can improve one’s physical, mental and emotional health.
Last year, Harvard Medical School noted that copious research has shown people who are intentional about practicing gratitude benefit in numerous ways — including experiencing greater emotional and social well-being, better sleep quality, decreased risk for depression, improved cardiovascular health and increased life expectancy.
“We know that gratitude makes people feel happier, which in itself slightly improves one’s mortality risk,” says Tyler VanderWeele, Harvard School of Public Health co-director of the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion. “Practicing gratitude may also make someone a bit more motivated to take care of their health. Maybe they’re more likely to show up for medical appointments or exercise. It may also help with relationships and social support, which we know contribute to health.”
Psychologist Dr. Chris Mosunic, chief clinical officer of Calm Health, notes that gratitude journaling can enhance one’s self-awareness, increase their sense of optimism, and help build up their emotional resilience.
“Regularly expressing gratitude can allow you to reflect on your day, your relationships, and your life,” says Mosunic. “When you’re consistently recognizing and appreciating the good in your life, you naturally start expecting more positive things to happen — and you’re more able to bounce back from challenging situations.
How to get started
Journaling is intensely personal — so what works for you may not work for someone else.
Mosunic recommends that, whether you journal daily, weekly or whenever the mood strikes, you try to be consistent and sincere in your entries. While there’s no strict format that works best, he suggests that you date each entry for future reference; write three to five things you’re grateful for that day and perhaps elaborate on at least one of those points, explaining why you’re thankful for it.
“Every so often, try to reflect on broader aspects of gratitude, like relationships, personal growth, or life lessons,” he recommends.
If you’re having trouble getting started, here are some common “gratitude prompts” that Mosunic says may help:
Even if you’re not the journaling type, there are other quick ways to implement the general concept says Mosunic. For instance, you can start a “gratitude jar.”
“Write down things you are grateful for on slips of paper and drop them into a jar,” he says. “Whenever you need a boost, dip into your jar and rediscover the joys you’ve experienced so far in life.”
In addition to gratitude journaling, Harvard’s VanderWeele recommends doing something that has become almost a lost art in today’s digital age: penning handwritten thank-you notes.
“Writing a thank-you note or gratitude letter gets your mind to dwell on something positive for a longer period, to think more deeply about it, because you have to put it not just in words, but in writing,” explains VanderWeele. “It also deepens the relationship and builds that bond.”
So as the holiday season and all its accompanying stress kick into high gear this week, take a few moments to slow down and really concentrate — perhaps even putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard — and remind yourself of all the things for which you have to be thankful.
Steve Dorfman is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. He writes about all aspects of health, fitness and wellness. If you have news tips, please send them to sdorfman@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why gratitude journaling is so good for your health and how to get started
Reporting by Steve Dorfman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
