How to be grateful, even when you don’t feel like it

Thanksgiving is here again; an entire holiday-cum-food ritual celebrating the importance of gratitude. Yet, through the lens of our everyday struggles — or when the chips are exceptionally down — it can feel like yet another struggle to be grateful when all you really feel is let down.

Interestingly enough, when you’re down, science says gratitude may be exactly what you need to lift you back up. Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, editor-in-chief of “The Journal of Positive Psychology,” and author of three books, including, “Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier,” has authored studies examining the various physical and psychological benefits of its practice.

Science Says Gratitude Makes Us Feel Better

One such study required random groups of people, some with neuromuscular disease, to list what they were grateful for. Emmons found the gratitude groups to have “exhibited heightened well-being,” suggesting staying focused on the good in life may have long-lasting benefits.

Gratitude can also help you sleep better at night, according to a recent study. “Gratitude promotes better sleep quality, shorter falling asleep latency, longer sleep duration, less need for sleep medicine, and less daytime dysfunction caused by lack of sleep, because gratitude short-circuits the stress response,” says Emmons. “Given how sleep-deprived we collectively are, and how vital sleep is for healthy functioning, this is huge.”

That study also confirmed that highly grateful individuals have fewer symptoms of depression. Emmons says grateful thinking can help people to better rebound from stressful events, because it’s contradictory to focus on feelings of gratitude while consumed with fear, stress and anxiety.