The Importance of Gratitude
- ClarkLindsey
- Nov 16, 2023
- 1 min read
Gratitude is a productive emotional training tool. When you are grateful for your life, you can experience the positive and pleasant feelings associated with happiness, peace, passion, excitement and love. These pleasant emotions can then be catalysts for positive changes in your life.
Why is practicing gratitude important?
Lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and other lifestyle diseases
Stronger immune system
Sharper memory and less mental decline with aging
Higher-quality sleep and less insomnia
Reduced perception of chronic pain
Less inflammation in the body
Better mood and less incidence of depression and anxiety
Higher self-confidence and fewer feelings of anger, jealousy and envy
Greater ability to forgive yourself and others
Better ability to prioritize and manage time
How can you practice gratitude into your everyday life?
Establish a practice in which you recite people, places, or things you are grateful for. This could be saying a few things aloud or writing them down
Sharing your gratitude with others. Make a conscious effort to remind the people in your life that you are grateful for them. This could be your wife, son, or even the cashier at the store
Challenge yourself to be grateful in difficult circumstances.
Hailey Kay, ClarkLindsey's Wellness Intern, collected this information and shared it with residents on 11/14/23. She is a Community Health Student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The following two articles were sources of information for the tips above. For further information on gratitude, you may want to read the articles in their entirety.
