美国国家公共电台 NPR If You Feel Thankful, Write It Down. It's Good For Your Health

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

If you're still scrambling¹ this Christmas Eve to find a last-minute present, you may want to consider a gratitude² journal. A growing body of research shows that logging your thanks can boost your mental and maybe even your physical health. Maanvi Singh has the story.

MAANVI SINGH, BYLINE³: Over this past year, Aileen Xu has kept a monthly list.

AILEEN XU: Let me see. (Reading) February 2018, I'm grateful that my family is so understanding. I'm grateful that so many people care.

SINGH: Sometimes it's big stuff, and sometimes it's the little blessings⁴.

XU: (Reading) July, I'm grateful for good hair after I shower (laughter).

SINGH: Xu started gratitude journaling when she was in college and feeling really low. She's now 28 and a lifestyle blogger. And she's recommended the practice to nearly 750,000 YouTube subscribers. It wasn't a hard sell. Psychologist Laurie Santos teaches a class on happiness at Yale.

LAURIE SANTOS: I think there - just over the last few years, there's been more of a trend to focus on gratitude.

SINGH: In wellness blogs and magazines, gratitude apps and journals...

SANTOS: Those types of products can remind us to take time to be grateful, but it's also important to remember that gratitude is free.

SINGH: And it pays off. A growing body of research shows that counting blessings can help you sleep better. It can lower stress and improve your relationships with others. There's also some evidence it could lower your risk of heart disease, and it may help lower depression in some people.

SANTOS: And the research suggests that taking time to focus on those positives, in addition to the negatives, can boost our mood more than we expect.

SINGH: Listing out what you're grateful for is one way of doing it. You could thank God or the universe or other people. You could keep it all private, or you could share it. Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky studies gratitude at the University of California, Riverside. Her advice...

SONJA LYUBOMIRSKY: Really think about what feels right - what feels natural or enjoyable or meaningful to you.

SINGH: And try to do it regularly but not too often. In one study, Lyubomirsky found that counting blessings once a week boosted happiness. But doing so three times a week did not. She warns that too much gratitude can backfire.

LYUBOMIRSKY: Because sometimes when you express gratitude, you could also feel humbled⁵ or indebted or maybe even embarrassed. So it doesn't always actually feel pleasant.

SINGH: And it's not a panacea⁶. Psychologist Santos says sometimes gratitude research can feel Pollyanna-ish.

SANTOS: You know, when we talk about, you know, focus on the things you're grateful for, we think that's equivalent to, you know, like, ignoring all the bad things in the world.

SINGH: Gratitude can not make injustice⁷, loss or pain disappear. What it can do is give us hope. In Oakland, Calif., 31-year-old mental health counselor⁸ Zeyda Garcia agrees. When she first started making gratitude lists five years ago, it felt a bit hokey.

ZEYDA GARCIA: Yeah. It felt kind of, like, fake a little bit.

SINGH: During really tough times, like when she'd lost a job and she was sleeping on her friend's mom's couch, she felt like she was reaching for reasons to be grateful. But she still tried to find some.

GARCIA: Even if it's literally⁹ like, I'm grateful for the sun that's shining today or being able to wake up.

SINGH: Over the years, she says it's helped her change her perspective. And this little shift has made all the difference. For NPR News, I'm Maanvi Singh. And I'm very thankful to you for listening.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KING: Thank you for listening to us on your local member station. You can keep the conversation going with us on social media. I'm Noel King. You can reach me on Twitter, @NoelKing. Rachel Martin is @rachelnpr. David Greene is @nprgreene. And Steve Inskeep is @NPRinskeep. To find out more about the people who put this show together every day, go to our website - npr.org/morningedition - and click on the staff tabs to read about our amazing crew of editors and producers.

1 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 humbled   

adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低

参考例句：

• The examination results humbled him. 考试成绩挫了他的傲气。
• I am sure millions of viewers were humbled by this story. 我相信数百万观众看了这个故事后都会感到自己的渺小。

6 panacea   

n.万灵药；治百病的灵药

参考例句：

• Western aid may help but will not be a panacea. 西方援助可能会有所帮助，但并非灵丹妙药。
• There's no single panacea for the country's economic ills. 国家经济弊病百出,并无万灵药可以医治。

7 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

8 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。