How Gratitude reshapes the brain

We hear about gratefulness a lot and some may be getting to the point where they roll their eyes. But there is some fascinating research on what gratefulness does physically to the brain and why we should care.

1. In 2016: researchers studying adults with anxiety or depression using gratefulness writing as part of their therapy vs those that did not, found that the Gratitude-letter group showed stronger, lasting modulation in medial prefrontal cortex versus controls, indicating enduring neural shifts after the intervention.

2. In 2017:  researchers studied adults using a daily gratitude journal for 3 weeks compared to just regular journalling. They found that compared to pre-test levels, gratitude journaling increased the neural response in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and nucleus accumbens which is involved in the reward pathways/system of the brain.

3. In 2021: Researchers studying gratitude linked the practice of gratitude vs controls to greater activation in prefrontal cognitive-control regions of the brain PLUS lower pro-inflammatory markers vs control.

4. In 2024: researchers found increased inter-brain communication between the frontal and temporal systems suggesting gratitude enhances social neural coupling, which means person-to-person connections!

   
   

   If there was ever a time to get into the habit of practicing gratitude, now might be the time: Lower inflammation markers, increase connection to others, and greater activity in several regions of the brain!