Gratitude journal: does it work, what research says about gratitude, and how to keep one

A gratitude journal is the practice of writing down things you are thankful for. Research describes gratitude in two broad ways: the thankfulness that follows help from someone, and a habit of noticing and appreciating the good things in life (Wood et al., 2010). Gratitude can be a passing emotion, a mood that lasts for days, or a lasting trait. A 2002 study called the trait the grateful disposition and defined it as a general tendency to recognise other people’s kindness in the good things that come your way and to respond with gratitude. The Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) built to measure it is a short scale of 6 items answered on a 7-point scale (McCullough et al., 2002). A Korean version (K-GQ-6) has been validated with university students (Kwon et al., 2006).

People with a more grateful disposition tended to report more positive feelings and life satisfaction and more helping behaviour, and less envy and materialism, and these links held after taking traits such as extraversion and neuroticism into account (McCullough et al., 2002). These studies show things that go together, though, so whether gratitude brings happiness or happier people find gratitude easier has to be tested in experiments. Trials of gratitude practices, such as gratitude journals and letters, try to answer that question.

In short, gratitude practices lift mood and well-being a little on average. In a 2025 meta-analysis of studies from 28 countries the effect was small (g = 0.19) and larger when measured as positive feelings (Choi et al., 2025). Against other activities that engage people in a similar way, however, the difference was small or absent (Davis et al., 2016), and the effect on symptoms of depression and anxiety was small too (Cregg & Cheavens, 2021). A gratitude journal is a light practice worth trying, not a treatment, and writing too often or under pressure can make it do nothing or even feel like a burden.

This guide covers the first experiments and the replications that followed, meta-analyses, the evidence on depression, anxiety, sleep and physical health, when it may not suit you or may backfire, and how to keep a gratitude journal the way the studies did. mind.io has no test of the grateful disposition, and this guide prints no scale items and no cut-off scores. Gratitude is one of the 24 strengths the VIA strengths test covers.

The best-known early experiments on gratitude practice came out in 2003. In the first, 192 US university students spent 10 weeks writing once a week either up to five things from the past week they were grateful for, hassles that had annoyed them, or simply events that had affected them. The gratitude group rated their lives as a whole more favourably, felt more optimistic about the week ahead and reported fewer physical symptoms. They also said they had exercised nearly 1.5 hours more per week than the hassles group. Their positive and negative emotions as such did not change, though (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

In the second experiment, 157 students wrote every day for 2 weeks. The gratitude group had more positive feelings than the hassles group, but no more than a group that thought about how they were better off than others. They more often said they had given someone emotional support, but exercise, physical symptoms and sleep did not differ. In the third, 65 adults with neuromuscular diseases spent 21 days either writing down each day what they were grateful for or only filling in the daily mood and life ratings. The gratitude group reported more life satisfaction, more optimism and a stronger sense of connection with others, slept longer (7.58 hours a night on average against 7.06) and woke more refreshed. Their spouses or others close to them also rated their life satisfaction higher. The authors said they did not know how long these effects last (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

In 2005, 577 adults who had visited a website on happiness were randomly given one of five exercises or a placebo exercise (writing about early memories) to do for a week. Two of them involved gratitude. The gratitude visit meant writing a letter of thanks to someone who had been especially kind but had never been properly thanked, and delivering it in person; three good things meant writing down, every night, three things that went well that day and why. The gratitude visit produced the largest changes in the whole study, but they lasted only a month: by 3 months, scores were back where they started. With three good things, happiness rose and depressive symptoms fell from one month on, and this lasted to 6 months. The people whose benefits lasted were those who kept doing the exercise on their own after the week was over (Seligman et al., 2005).

These results come with caveats. Every group, the placebo group included, was happier and less depressed right after the week, and only the 411 people (71%) who completed all five follow-ups were analysed. The participants had come looking for ways to be happier and were, on average, mildly depressed (Seligman et al., 2005). A replication with the same method found that exercises such as three good things raised happiness for a long time, but a placebo exercise that brought positive information about oneself to mind raised it lastingly too, and changes in depression were no larger than in the control condition (Mongrain & Anselmo-Matthews, 2012). Another study that repeated the original three exercises and the placebo exactly found that every group, the placebo included, became happier and less depressed, and the exercises could not be told apart from the placebo (Woodworth et al., 2017).

A 2010 review judged gratitude practices promising, but warned that the limitations of the research may have been overlooked (Wood et al., 2010). A 2016 meta-analysis then split the studies by what they were compared against. Against groups that only filled in questionnaires, the effect on psychological well-being was d = 0.31 (5 studies); against groups doing another activity it shrank to 0.17 (20 studies). Anxiety did not differ meaningfully from another activity (0.11, 5 studies), and against other activities likely to do people good the effect was close to zero (−0.03, 9 studies). The authors concluded that gratitude practices did as well as such activities, but no better (Davis et al., 2016).

A 2017 meta-analysis of 38 studies also found that gratitude practices improved several outcomes, happiness among them, but not others, and that their unique benefits may have been overstated (Dickens, 2017). The largest meta-analysis appeared in 2025: across 145 papers with 24,804 participants from 28 countries, gratitude practices raised well-being a little (g = 0.19). After correcting for publication bias, an effect of 0.15 remained. It was larger for positive feelings (0.27), and 0.15 for depressive symptoms. Combining several kinds of gratitude practice gave larger effects, whereas the number of sessions made no difference, and against control conditions with a positive activity (11 effect sizes) there was no meaningful difference (Choi et al., 2025).

In 2026 came a large experiment with 10,696 people in 34 countries. Compared with three control tasks, six brief gratitude practices increased positive feelings straight afterwards (d = 0.37) and reduced negative feelings (−0.22), raised optimism (0.24) and life satisfaction (0.12) a little and reduced envy (−0.16). A sense of indebtedness, of owing others, also rose a little (0.15), a change the authors had predicted. The effects differed more between countries than between practices, and the authors said that what one can expect from these practices in a country picked at random is more positive feelings. Since this was measured just after a short practice, it does not show lasting effects (Coles et al., 2026).

Overall, gratitude practices make people feel a little better than doing nothing, but the evidence that they beat other good activities is weak. That is a reason to choose an activity that suits you rather than sticking to a gratitude journal alone.

A 2021 meta-analysis of whether gratitude practices reduce depression and anxiety pooled 27 studies with 3,675 people. The effect was small right after the practice (g = −0.29) and at follow-up; it was larger in studies comparing against a waiting list and smaller against groups doing another activity. Most of the studies were of people without a diagnosis. The authors suggested that people looking to reduce depression or anxiety turn to approaches with stronger evidence, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (Cregg & Cheavens, 2021).

One trial added gratitude letters to counselling. 293 adults who came to a university counselling service were split into counselling only, counselling plus writing about their feelings on stressful experiences, and counselling plus writing letters of gratitude to others. About 4 weeks and 12 weeks after the writing ended, the gratitude letter group reported better mental health than the other two (Wong et al., 2018). This was in addition to counselling, not instead of it, and it is a single trial.

The evidence on sleep and physical health is weaker. In a one-time survey of 401 adults, people with a more grateful disposition slept better and longer, and more positive and fewer negative thoughts before sleep accounted for the link; a survey at one point in time cannot show cause and effect (Wood et al., 2009). A 2020 review of 19 gratitude trials found that self-rated sleep quality improved in 5 of 8 studies, but physical symptoms improved in only 2 of 8, and outcomes such as blood pressure or blood sugar had one study each. Most studies had some risk of bias, so the authors said it is too early to draw firm conclusions about health (Boggiss et al., 2020).

If your mood has been low and things have lost their interest for more than 2 weeks, rather than trying to get through it with a gratitude journal, see where you are with the depression check-in (PHQ-9) and talk to someone: in Korea, a psychiatric clinic or a local mental health welfare centre; elsewhere, a family doctor or a local mental health service. A self-check is not a diagnosis. Treatments that help with depression are covered in depression: what helps. If you have thoughts of ending your life, do not carry them alone: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, or call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, right away. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

More often is not better. In a preliminary 6-week study, students thought about what they were grateful for either once or three times a week; only the once-a-week group gained in well-being compared with controls who just filled in questionnaires. The authors thought doing it more often may have made it boring and less fresh and meaningful, and they did not test how long the gains lasted (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). In the 2025 meta-analysis too, the number of sessions did not change the effect (Choi et al., 2025).

Gratitude practice you have not chosen may do less. In an 8-month experiment, gratitude and optimism exercises worked better for people who knew the study was about becoming happier and chose to join, and for those who kept putting in effort, while these differences did not appear with the control task (Lyubomirsky et al., 2011). In a study of 772 adults, both a gratitude exercise and listening to uplifting music raised happiness; people prone to self-criticism responded especially well to gratitude, whereas for people with a strong need to lean on others neither exercise worked, and self-esteem even suffered (Sergeant & Mongrain, 2011).

Gratitude does not only leave good feelings. US and Korean students who spent 8 minutes writing about a time they were grateful felt more grateful, moved and uplifted, and also more indebted, than students who wrote about a kind act of their own or about their past week. The authors described gratitude exercises as a mixed experience, uplifting and mildly uncomfortable at the same time (Layous et al., 2017). Another study found more indebtedness when the gratitude was towards someone important (Oishi et al., 2019). In the 34-country experiment as well, indebtedness rose a little after gratitude practices (Coles et al., 2026).

What about Korea? In a study of 520 US and Korean students who wrote a gratitude letter once a week for the first 3 weeks of 6, the US students gained in well-being, but the Korean students gained significantly less from the gratitude letters. Kind acts helped students in both countries about equally. The authors suggested that the Korean students may have felt more mixed emotions, such as indebtedness alongside gratitude (Layous et al., 2013). In a study of 336 Korean students, gratitude writing also tended to raise indebtedness a little (Oishi et al., 2019). Yet in the 8-minute writing study, the Korean students who wrote about gratitude felt less indebted than the US students (Layous et al., 2017), and in the 2025 meta-analysis the Korean studies (14 effect sizes) showed a meaningful effect of g = 0.34, while Japan showed none (Choi et al., 2025). It cannot be said that gratitude practice does not suit Koreans; who it is for and how it is done seem to matter.

A gratitude journal is not a way of putting up with a hard situation, and what the studies found were small changes in mood and satisfaction. Do not use gratitude to cover up problems that need solving or help, such as unfair treatment, a harmful relationship or depression that will not lift. If finding things to be grateful for is painful, or writing leaves you feeling worse or guilty, it is fine to stop. Practising kindness towards yourself in hard moments is covered in how to build self-compassion.

The methods in the studies are simple. Once a week, write down up to five things from the past week you are grateful for (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), or before bed, write down three things that went well that day and why they happened (Seligman et al., 2005). They do not have to be big things: participants in the 2003 experiment wrote things like “waking up this morning”, “the generosity of friends” and “wonderful parents” (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Rather than a vague “grateful for my family”, write briefly what happened and when, who did what, and, as in the three good things exercise, why it mattered.

There is no evidence that you need to write every day. Start with once a week, and if it starts to feel like homework, do it less often. In the 6-week preliminary study only the once-a-week group benefited, and the authors suggested that changing the areas of life you count blessings in, such as relationships, work or health, may keep it fresh (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). In the meta-analysis, too, mixing different kinds of gratitude practice mattered more than the number of sessions (Choi et al., 2025).

You can also tell someone directly. The gratitude visit, a letter of thanks delivered in person, had large effects, but they lasted about a month (Seligman et al., 2005). People who write such letters tend to underestimate how surprised and pleased the recipient will be and overestimate how awkward the recipient will feel (Kumar & Epley, 2018). But even writing about gratitude towards someone important can bring a sense of indebtedness with it (Oishi et al., 2019). Whether to send the letter is up to you, and if that feels heavy, you can start with things that are not about one person, such as your health or good moments in your day.

There are other ways as well. One is to imagine how a good thing might never have happened. Students who wrote about how a positive event might never have happened felt better than students who wrote about how it came into their lives, and people who wrote about how they might never have met their partner were more satisfied with their relationship (Koo et al., 2008). Doing kind things is another option: in the US–Korea study above, kind acts raised well-being for students in both countries (Layous et al., 2013).

Try it for a few weeks and see whether things feel even a little lighter. If it does nothing or only adds pressure, you can switch to something else; other ways to ease stress, with their evidence, are in how to relieve stress. In the three good things study, the people whose benefits lasted were those who carried on by themselves after the set period ended (Seligman et al., 2005). Who kept going was not decided at random, so it cannot tell whether carrying on made the benefits last or people who benefited carried on.

Q. Do I need to write in a gratitude journal every day? A. No. The studies used both once a week (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) and every day (Seligman et al., 2005), and in a 6-week preliminary study only the once-a-week group gained in well-being (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). In an analysis pooling many studies, the number of sessions made no difference either (Choi et al., 2025). As often as you can keep it up without it getting boring is about right.

Q. When does it start working, and how long does it last? A. Right after a short gratitude practice, positive feelings rose (Coles et al., 2026). In the 2005 experiment the gratitude visit’s effect lasted a month, and three good things worked from one month to 6 months, lasting longest in people who kept going on their own (Seligman et al., 2005). A study that repeated the same method, however, found no difference from a placebo (Woodworth et al., 2017).

Q. What about days when there is nothing to be grateful for? A. You do not have to force it. Gratitude exercises worked better when people wanted to do them (Lyubomirsky et al., 2011). Small things count, and you can take a break and come back to it. If the feeling that there is nothing to be grateful for lasts more than 2 weeks and daily life is hard, it can be a sign of depression: see depression: what helps and talk to a professional.

Q. Can a test measure how grateful I am? A. For research there is the 6-item Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) (McCullough et al., 2002), which also has a Korean version (K-GQ-6) (Kwon et al., 2006). mind.io does not offer it. The VIA strengths test counts gratitude as one of 24 strengths, so you can see where it falls in the order of your strengths.

Q. Will a gratitude journal help when I am depressed? A. Its effect on symptoms of depression and anxiety was small (Cregg & Cheavens, 2021). Trying it is fine, but it cannot replace treatment. The depression check-in (PHQ-9) can show where you are now; it is not a diagnosis, and if things feel hard, whatever your score, talk to a professional. If you have thoughts of ending your life, do not wait: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, or call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, right away.

Q. Things are so hard that I cannot feel grateful, and I don’t want to be alive. A. Please do not carry this alone. Reach out to a crisis line right away: call or text 988 in the US and Canada, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland, or find a line at findahelpline.com elsewhere. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.

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