Your Brain on Gratitude
The Neuroscience Behind Feeling Grateful
It’s that time of year again when we celebrate the things that we’re grateful for. Even if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, or celebrate at a different time, you should know that gratitude isn’t only good for your soul, it’s good for your brain too.
The simple act of expressing gratitude causes our brain to release dopamine and serotonin, two “feel good” chemicals that lead to moments of happiness and longterm contentment. When we’re feeling anxious or stressed, gratitude can reduce the production of cortisol and calm the sympathetic nervous system, which kicks the body into high alert mode.
Gratitude activates areas of the brain that is responsible for regulating emotion, decision-making, and reward-processing. By involving these different areas, expressing gratitude can not only alter the way we see ourselves and the world, but serve as a lever for the cognitive processes that these brain regions support.
By improving emotional regulation and increasing positive mood, gratitude can enhance memory and help your brain switch perspectives more easily, think more creatively, and recover faster from mental fatigue.
In short, gratitude isn’t just good for your mood, it’s good for your mind too.
As we enter into the last month of the year, it’s worth remembering that the simplest mental habits can have outsized impact. Even pausing for a moment to acknowledge what you’re thankful for can create conditions for your bran to thrive.
At the heart of Soma’s mission, we want to help you understand the patterns beneath how you think, feel, and perform and give you tools to nurture your cognition. We’re grateful to you for being a part of this mission, and we wish you a healthy mind, a grounded week, and a little extra clarity wherever you need it.
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