Gratitude is good for your heart (literally)—here’s the science
Here’s how a simple act of self love can improve your cardiovascular health.
‘Tis the season to be grateful for what you have—like friends, family, food, and a home. While the holidays are a great time to take stock of your blessings, you should practice gratitude year-round. It’s not just a nice thing to do: it may improve your health.
The findings of an October 2025 study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology suggest that gratitude activities may benefit cardiac vagal regulation. That, in turn, could promote heart health in the long-term. So, yes: gratitude is literally good for your heart. Here’s what to know about the practice and its health benefits.
How Gratitude Can Improve Your Physical Health
Gratitude can have a meaningful impact on a person’s cardiovascular health and overall well-being. According to that recent study, the exercise of expressing gratitude through writing letters or journaling for two weeks was shown to contribute to cardiac regulation via boosting “vagal flexibility,” consequently offering a more adaptive way of coping with stress. “This means that if we express gratitude consistently, our cardiac function and how we cope with stress could improve considerably,” says Mirela Loftus, MD, PhD, the medical director at Newport Healthcare.
But that’s not the only way gratitude benefits your heart. Research shows that gratitude—how grateful a person feels in the moment—is associated with lower systolic blood pressure reactivity when facing stress, says Cynthia Vejar, PhD, Director and Associate Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Lebanon Valley College. Also, trait gratitude—a person’s general tendency to feel grateful—may be connected to a lower risk of heart attacks later in life, she adds.
Additionally, practicing gratitude may improve resting heart rate and lead to better heart rate variability—which is a reflection of how your body and heart responds to stress, says Ashley Zucker, MD, a psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. Being grateful comes with some other physical health benefits. For example, gratitude may also help improve sleep quality and reduce stress and cortisol, Vejar says. And interestingly, grateful individuals also tend to engage more often in healthier activities, like exercise and eating well, Zucker says.
Practicing gratitude may also help support longevity. A 2024 study identified a 9% lower risk of death—from causes like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease—in women who had the highest levels of gratitude, Zucker says. On top of all that, “those who practice gratitude are also more likely to seek help when they need it,” she adds.
How Gratitude Can Benefit Your Mental Health
Gratitude can have a powerful effect on mental health. Take, for example, the simple act of eating a meal. “If we pause to appreciate where the food came from such as the farmers who grew it, the workers who processed and transported it, and the people stocking the shelves at grocery stores, we become more mindful and connected, less wasteful, and more aware of the many efforts that go into even the simplest parts of our day-to-day lives,” Vejar says.
Gratitude helps to turn our focus to the positive and, in turn, can increase positive feelings, which can lead to a better overall sense of well-being. According to Zucker, research does support an overall benefit to mental health, including improvement in depression and anxiety. “The impact may not be as robust as therapy or medications, but it can be a great complement to these modalities and great as a preventative measure for our mental health,” she says. Plus, physical improvements in health—like our heart’s response to stress—carries over to our mental health and our ability to navigate stressful times or situations, she adds.
What Makes Gratitude So Healthy?
Gratitude is “healthy” because it helps shift your focus from what’s missing or stressful in life to what’s good, Vejar says. “It calms the mind, helps people from worrying excessively, and makes everyday moments feel more meaningful,” she explains. “Noticing and appreciating the people, experiences, and simple things around you, instills a sense of contentment.”
Along the same lines, Loftus says that gratitude works because it interrupts the brain’s natural negativity bias, and calms the stress response system. “When we focus on what we appreciate in life, cortisol levels drop, our mood stabilizes and the nervous system becomes more regulated,” she says. “It creates a mental ‘reset,’ making room for optimism and emotional balance.” Gratitude can also help us redirect feelings like anger, hurt, or fear, as well as feelings of loneliness or isolation, Zucker says.
Practicing gratitude often requires reflection, which can also be thought of as a form of mindfulness, which has also been shown to improve mental health and wellbeing, Zucker says. “When we are intentional in shifting our thoughts to a positive place, it has an impact on the rest of our thoughts, our mood and our behaviors,” she notes.
How to Incorporate Gratitude Into Your Daily Life
Want to start practicing gratitude but aren’t sure where to start? The experts provided us with some tips:
- Start small: Jot down one thing you appreciated today, no matter how small it might be. “You can also pause before bed and think of a moment that made you smile, or say something you’re grateful for out loud,” Loftus says. Work your way up to coming up with three things you’re grateful for every day.
- Set an alarm: Think you’ll forget your gratitude practice? Set a daily alarm as a reminder to pause and identify something positive. “The key isn’t perfection, it’s consistency,” Zucker says. Building in reminders can encourage positive habits to form,” Vejar adds.
- Thank others IRL: Start making a conscious effort to thank others out loud. If a stranger holds the door for you, thank them. If your kid puts on their shoes in the morning on their own, thank them. “It can really go a long way in making not only you feel good, but also the person receiving the gratitude,” Zucker says.
- Send a message: Tell someone why you appreciate them in a letter or text. “This boosts social connection and reinforces the habit,” Vejar says.
If something as simple as practicing gratitude can be an effective way to boost your physical and mental well-being, it’s worth making the effort to give it a try. “Gratitude works because it trains your brain to pay attention to the positive, which helps both your mind and body feel better,” Vejar says.
Read the original article on Real Simple
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