Gratitude is one of the most underrated yet important personality traits or factors that can help you live longer and healthier. How negatively or positively you perceive life around you can have a profound impact on your psychology. People who count their blessings or feel more grateful generally have greater resilience to deal with daily stressors. This makes them healthier than the rest and increases their lifespan. Several studies have demonstrated that gratitude can have a therapeutic effect on a person’s physical and mental health. Practicing gratitude or appreciating the things around you plays a role in improving sleep quality, keeping you in good spirits and reducing the risk of depression and anxiety, which are risk factors for many chronic diseases. Gratitude may be a countermeasure to our brain’s negativity bias, essentially a way to remember pain so one can avoid it in the future. Consciously reminding ourselves of the good things in life and appreciating those around us can help combat negativity and put ourselves in a more positive state of mind.
Here are ways gratitude can help us live longer:
1. Gratitude can reduce the risk of heart disease: Feeling more positive and grateful can help reduce stress levels, blood pressure and reduce inflammation. This can lead to an overall improvement in heart health. 2. Feeling grateful is good for your immune system: Appreciating the things around us and looking at people and situations in a positive light can have a positive impact on your immune system. This will help you prevent seasonal infections and enjoy good health in general. 3. It can help improve your sleep: Practicing gratitude reduces your stress, lowers your risk of depression and anxiety, and generally makes you feel happier. This also has a healing effect on your sleep. People who sleep well live longer and are healthier.
4. It can reduce the risk of depression: When you feel grateful for the most basic things like your body, food and senses, you shift your focus from negative stories in mind to the more positive things in life. Being in that state will reduce your risk of depression and make you feel happier. 5. It can reduce chronic pain: A study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, found that people with chronic pain who practiced gratitude regularly reported an overall sense of well-being. improved as well as reduced pain on the day they practiced gratitude exercises. 6. It can improve your relationships: Feeling grateful for the loving relationships in your life is known to improve your mental health. When you are in a good mental state, you enjoy good health and face a lower risk of chronic disease. This can help you live longer.
Tips for enhancing mental health through self-discovery
