In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explore the science of gratitude and how to develop an effective, research-supported gratitude practice. I explain why common gratitude practices (like simply listing things you're grateful for) are far less impactful than engaging in story-based gratitude practices. I also explain how being grateful activates specific brain regions, which enhance calm, social connection and motivation, while reducing anxiety and inflammation. Finally, I share why we can't simply trick our brains into feeling grateful and describe a practical weekly gratitude practice that will improve both your mental and physical well-being. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AGZ by AG1: https://drinkagz.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Our Place: https://fromourplace.com/huberman Timestamps (0:00) Gratitude (0:30) Gratitude Practice Benefits (3:22) Pro-Social vs Defensive Behaviors, Gratitude (6:25) Sponsor: Eight Sleep (8:07) Serotonin, Brain & Context, Gratitude Mindset (14:02) Context, Can You Lie to Yourself? (14:48) Effective Gratitude Practice, Tools: Receiving Gratitude, Story (21:18) Sponsor: AGZ by AG1 (22:47) Tool: Find & Revisit Inspirational Stories (27:30) Heartfelt Intention, Genuine Thanks (29:42) Sponsor: Our Place (31:03) Gratitude Practice Benefits for Anxiety, Fear & Motivation (33:29) Gratitude Practice Benefits for Immune System (36:02) Recap: Establishing an Effective Gratitude Practice Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are talking all about the science of gratitude.
There's now a wealth of data showing that having an effective gratitude practice can impact a huge number of health variables, both mental health and physical health in positive ways. However, in researching this episode, I was completely surprised as to what constitutes an effective gratitude practice.
I think like many of you would have thought that an effective gratitude practice simply involves writing down a few things or many things that we're grateful for, or thinking about those, or really making an effort to somaticize or feel some of the elements of gratitude while writing out that list or thinking about that list.
It turns out that an effective gratitude practice doesn't resemble that at all. The neuroimaging data, the physiological data, looking at things like inflammatory markers, Other studies purely looking at the psychology and the long and short-term effects of an effective gratitude practice point to a completely different approach to using gratitude to positively impact health metrics.
There are studies showing that performing a gratitude practice twice or three times, or even just once a week can lead to a pervasive, a long lasting impact on subjective wellbeing. people report feeling happier, more meaning, joy, even awe for their life experience, simply in response to adding a gratitude practice. But there are additional benefits of a gratitude practice.
There are studies showing that a regular gratitude practice can provide resilience to trauma. It can provide a reframing and resilience to prior traumatic experiences. So buffering people against the negative physiological effects and psychological effects of earlier trauma, but also inoculating them in many ways to any traumas that might arrive later in life.
The other thing that a gratitude practice does is it's been shown to benefit social relationships. but not just for the relationship in which you express gratitude, right? So on the face of it, you might think, okay, if I express gratitude for somebody over and over, over and over, over and over, then I'm going to feel better about that person.
And indeed that is one effect of a gratitude practice that's called a pro-social or inter-social gratitude practice. But
There are now several studies, recent studies in good journals pointing to the fact that a regular gratitude practice can also enhance one's social relationships across the board, in the workplace, at school, with family, in romantic relationships, and even one's relationship to themselves, which is really what the subjective feelings of wellbeing are.
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