27 Dec Gratitude Journal: What Is It and How To Do It?
A person can stay healthy in three simple ways: regular exercise, balanced meals, and expression of gratitude.
Being grateful is associated with an array of physical and mental health benefits, such as decreasing depression, anxiety, and chronic pain among others. It can also boost your mood while improving sleep and immunity.
There are many ways to express your gratitude, with one involving a journal.
What is the Gratitude Journal?
A gratitude journal is like a normal journal. However, it keeps a record of all the things that you are thankful for. To start with yours, you must find a medium that speaks to you. Is it writing, sketching, or painting in your notebook?
Do you like it in long descriptive paragraph forms, or will it be easier for you to keep a journal by doing everything in a bulleted list? If you don’t like your journal structured, you can do a free writing form, wherein you will just put whatever you can think of.
You can do this before going to bed or before starting your day.
A gratitude journal can also help you remember the good things that you may have forgotten due to stressful and overwhelming situations.
Gratitude and Its Health Benefits
Aside from reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, it is also believed that it can decrease the risk for heart disease.
A 2019 review of research found that being grateful can cause a significant reduction in diastolic blood pressure, which is the force your heart exerts between beats.
One’s nervous system also benefits from gratitude. Being grateful can cause your blood pressure to go down, with your heart rate and breathing becoming steadier, which can bring you to a state of relaxation.
Aside from the physical and mental health benefits, being thankful can connect you to other people, as well as to nature and other higher powers.
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SOURCE:
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/health-benefits-gratitude
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335018983_Gratitude_and_health_An_updated_review
https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier