Gratitude and Sleep

Gratitude isn’t just a habit—it’s about changing our mindset. Cultivating virtues, like gratitude, makes our minds healthy, and the body follows. 

Many symptoms, diseases, and disorders plague our modern society. At the forefront is a lack of sleep quantity and quality. Gratitude can alleviate these side effects by improving sleep. 

Research has found that participants—even those with sleeping disorders—who reflected on what they were thankful for before bed experienced significantly better sleep quality and duration.

Additionally, those who practice gratitude journaling experience less pain, with a nearly 8 percent decrease, and are more inclined to exercise.  

Gratitude can significantly lower stress levels. This, in turn, benefits mental and physical health, including strengthening the immune system. By encouraging behaviors that support immune function, gratitude lowers levels of interleukin-6, a leading culprit in chronic inflammation. 

Journaling can be a great tool for expressing gratitude. A nightly habit of taking 3-5 minutes to journal what you are grateful for can make for a more restful night of sleep. There is no right or wrong way of performing this practice. You can write down what you are grateful for that occurs throughout the day.