The results of a new study may cause doctors to recommend gratitude journaling with the same seriousness as diet and exercise as a way to improve heart health.
University of Graz researchers in Austria who authored the study did not respond to requests for comment.
“Most previous research leaned hard on self-report or mood scales, chalking gratitude up to warm fuzzies,” MindLAB Neuroscience founder and The Dopamine Code author Sydney Ceruto told NTD. “This approach repositions gratitude firmly within cardiac health protocols.”
The study suggests that 15 minutes of gratitude journaling could benefit cardiac function with a boost to vagus nerve flexibility.
“There’s something about being grateful that fires up reward circuit loops like dopamine and oxytocin,” Ceruto said. “They both spike when you list experiences that actually mean something to you. What calms people down isn’t wishful thinking. It’s the brain connecting values and memories.”
The NIH estimates that 127.9 million American adults are diagnosed with some form of cardiovascular disease.
According to the abstract, researchers set out to examine whether writing a gratitude letter affects cardiac stress reactivity and how two weeks of gratitude journaling would impact heartbeats per minute at rest.
Pulse rate was measured by a mobile app called Herzfrequenzmonitor, which assesses blood volume changes with the smartphone’s camera.
“We predicted that a two weeks gratitude journaling intervention should result in an increase in positive affect (PA) and life satisfaction as well as a decrease of negative affect (NA) and basal heart rate relative to an active control group,” the study states.
Gratitude journaling is not a diary or a checklist, according to Ceruto.
Instead, it involves writing down at least three good things or three good experiences that elicit positive or happy feelings. For example, happy to have a job, happy for good health, or happy for housing.
“Five minutes is effective, but ten minutes is the optimal duration,” Ceruto said. “Longer entries don’t boost the effect, but regularity is non-negotiable. Saying what you’re grateful for aloud, or even thinking it deliberately, can work if you mean it. The checkpoint is authentic neural engagement. Your brain and body know the difference.”