 |
| Photo courtesy of GodFruits.com |
People! I am going to tell you a secret. Just be thankful for what you have, and you will live longer. How close can you get? Amazing!
Being thankful
Scientists recently bragged about a study saying that giving thanks for the positive aspects of life can promote the mental and physical health of people who have heart problems but do not show any outward symptoms.
Be it for that matter; if we are thankful, we will be healthy and have a great life. The more gratitude you have, the better mood, you enjoy better sleep, less fatigue, and lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers related to cardiac health.
I think these are the hallmarks of attaining perfect health.
Gratitude can be said as a warm feeling you get when you remember all the good things you have. It seems that spirituality can pep up your feelings of gratitude.
The famous preacher Joel Osteen says, “Being Grateful is the key to staying happy.” And happiness boosts your wellness quotient.
Coming back to the study, the researchers studied 186 men and women who had been diagnosed with stage B of heart failure. This includes those who have had a heart attack but do not have symptoms of heart failure, such as shortness of breath and fatigue.
But be informed that these people are at higher risk of progressing to stage 3, where the risk of death is five times higher. The people who scored high on gratitude showed better mood, higher sleep quality, less stress, more self-efficacy, and low levels of inflammation.
The researchers did something interesting. They asked some participants to jot down three things for which they are thankful most of the week. They continued this for 8 weeks.
The news gets spicier. To the researchers’ amazement, the patients who practiced gratitude journaling showed reduced levels of inflammatory biomarkers and improved heart rate, which is a symptom of reduced cardiac risk.
A grateful heart is the healthiest heart, and gratitude journaling is an easy way to promote cardiac health, say researchers.
