A systematic review of gratitude interventions: effects on physical health and health behaviors
The honest counterweight. Reviewing 19 randomised gratitude studies, the strongest signal for physical health was subjective sleep quality, improved in 5 of 8 studies - and the authors conclude more research is needed before firm claims about physical health can be made at all.
We include this one because it mostly disagrees with the marketing.
Gratitude interventions are consistently linked to psychological well-being. The claims about the body - blood pressure, inflammation, sleep - are a different matter, and this review went looking for them across 19 randomised studies drawn from 1,433 articles.
What it found:
- Subjective sleep quality improved in 5 of 8 studies. The single most supported physical finding, and it is about self-reported sleep.
- Blood pressure, glycaemic control, asthma control and eating behaviour each improved - in one study each. That is a hint, not a finding.
- Self-reported physical symptoms improved in 2 of 8 studies. Inflammation markers, 1 of 2.
- The majority of studies showed some risk-of-bias concerns.
The authors’ conclusion is that more research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about gratitude interventions improving health outcomes.
So: if you see a claim that gratitude journaling lowers your blood pressure, this is the review it is not supported by.
This review largely fails to confirm the physical-health claims made for gratitude. Most outcome categories were understudied or mixed - self-reported physical symptoms improved in only 2 of 8 studies, inflammation markers in 1 of 2. Several promising results rest on a single study each. The majority of included studies showed risk-of-bias concerns.
Articles citing this study
Summarized by Tiago Martins · Last updated: · How we write these
