How Gratitude Changes Your Brain

Neuroimaging studies have revealed that gratitude practices can actually change the physical structure of your brain through neuroplasticity.

When you practice gratitude, your brain releases dopamine and serotonin, two crucial neurotransmitters that help regulate mood. These chemicals create feelings of pleasure and contentment, essentially giving you a natural high. Regular gratitude practice can lead to more sustained production of these "feel-good" chemicals, potentially creating lasting improvements in your mood.

The medial prefrontal cortex, an area associated with learning, decision-making, and social behaviours, shows increased activity and density with regular gratitude practice. Research now demonstrates that it can also reduce activity in the amygdala (your brain's alarm system) and increase activity in the prefrontal cortex, which helps regulate your emotions.

What makes gratitude particularly powerful is that it creates a positive feedback loop in your brain. As you practice gratitude, your brain becomes more sensitive to noticing positive experiences, which gives you more to be grateful for. This can help shift your mind from scarcity to abundance.

Simple ways to practice gratitude:

• Keep a daily gratitude journal -write at least 3 things you're thankful for each day (they can be as small as the air that you breathe, to a grand gesture from someone that you love)

• "Gratitude Meditations" - focus on feeling appreciation and love for at least 5-10 min a day

• Write genuine thank-you letters/messages to people who have positively impacted your life (you can hand them over or keep them in your journal/phone)

• Pause to savour positive moments when they occur - allow your brain to fully register the emotions associated with these moments, so you can later re-visit that same feeling when you sit in meditation

The key insight from neuroscience is that lasting change comes from regular, repeated activation of specific neural pathways. Each time you practice gratitude, you're strengthening these pathways, gradually making appreciation your brain's default setting rather than something you have to consciously choose.

To conclude, gratitude doesn’t require grand gestures, just raised awareness to the good that already exists in your life. This simple practice gradually retrains your brain to become more naturally attuned to positive aspects of your experience.