'Performance-enhancing substance': How Thanksgiving gratitude may improve your health

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/28/thanksgiving-health-advice-how-gratitude-good-your-heart/4320321002/

Grace Hauck
USA TODAY
Nov. 28, 2019

Show your gratitude this Thanksgiving. It's good for your health.

Expressing gratitude improves cardiovascular strength, sleep quality and more, researchers said.

"Gratitude enhances performance in every domain that's been examined, psychological, relational, emotional, physical," said Robert Emmons, a professor and psychologist at the University of California-Davis. "This is why it's been referred to as the ultimate performance-enhancing substance."

The field of gratitude health studies is young, but researchers said practicing gratitude may positively affect physical health in two main ways: It can change your biology and your behavior.

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Practicing gratitude is also tied to lower stress levels, Simon-Thomas said, because people who regularly express gratitude have a greater capacity to regulate emotions in a constructive way. It can even "short-circuit" the body's stress response.

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