Gratitude can do wonders for the human brain, as long as it doesn't fade away when Thanksgiving ends.

"...researchers at the University of California-Berkeley report mounting scientific evidence that thankfulness also has concrete health benefits, such as lower blood pressure, stronger disease immunity and fewer symptoms of depression.

"Their research is a product of UC-Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, which recently launched a three-year, $5.6 million project to 'expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of human health, personal and relational well-being, and developmental science.' As part of this project, the GGSC has also created Thnx4.org, a 'sharable gratitude journal' that aims to teach people the tangible power of thankfulness while also helping scientists better understand it.

"GGSC research on this topic began several years ago, as an assignment for Berkeley students to keep gratitude journals in spiral-bound notebooks. By writing down everything for which they were grateful, the students boosted their 'overall resilience,' according to a university news release, and reportedly grew less susceptible to daily stresses as well as minor maladies like rashes and headaches." ...

"Thnx4.org is just one piece in the fast-growing field of gratitude science. In one recent study, for example, scientists found that teenagers who reported the most gratitude after a four-year research period became '17 percent more happy and more hopeful about their lives' while experiencing 'a 13 percent drop in negative emotions and a 15 percent drop in depressive symptoms.'"

The science of being thankful