Having an attitude of gratitude can extend your years, suggests a new analysis led by Harvard.
For the study, published online on July 3, 2024 by JAMA PsychiatryResearchers examined data from more than 49,000 women (average age 79) enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study. In 2016, participants completed a six-item gratitude questionnaire in which they rated their agreement with statements such as “I have so much to be grateful for in life” and “If I had to list everything for which I feel grateful, that would be a very long list. » Three years later, researchers checked participants’ medical records to determine who had died, noting the total number of deaths from all causes, as well as specific causes such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease , neurodegenerative diseases, infections and injuries.
The researchers found that participants whose scores on the gratitude questionnaire at the start of the study were in the top third had a 9% lower risk of death over the next three years than participants whose scores were in the lower third. lower third. Gratitude appears to protect against all specific causes of death studied, and particularly against cardiovascular disease. The study was observational, meaning it couldn’t prove that gratitude makes you live longer, only that an association exists.
Image: © SeventyFour/Getty Images
As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date all articles were last revised or updated.
No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.