The Surprising Science of Gratitude: Reduce Stress, Sleep Better, and Live Longer

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Go to beyondbloodwork.com to learn how to break free from cell danger response and make the effort pay off. Hey, welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. I am your host, Dr. Axe, and each and every week on this podcast, we dive deep into the principles and science behind how to grow in body, mind, and spirit and take your health and your life to the next level.

On today's episode, I'm going to be talking about how I experienced a life-threatening illness and how the power of gratitude helped me heal. This is going to help you if you're in a state right now where you feel like you're up against something.

Maybe it's something physical where you have Lyme disease or hypothyroidism or autoimmune disease or cancer and you need to experience a physical breakthrough. This is gonna help. Or maybe you're in a place right now where you have this mental barrier in your life. You don't feel like you're doing what you're born to do. You feel like you're in a— stuck in a rut. This is gonna help.

And maybe you need a spiritual breakthrough. You want more out of your life. More significance, more meaning, this is going to help. Before I dive in though, make sure to subscribe to the podcast and sign up for my weekly newsletter in the link in the show notes. Well, you know, I was in a situation about 2 years ago where I was unable to walk.

I sat down with a doctor, actually I didn't sit down, I was on a gurney. I was flown from Puerto Rico to Florida and rolled into an infectious disease specialist. And he looked at my MRI. And he said, Josh, listen, I want to be honest with you. He said, when I look at your MRI, there's an infection in your disc, in your bone, it's by the spinal cord.

In all likelihood, you're going to be permanently disabled. And I was just months before doing— in the shape where I could do triathlons. I was throwing my 2-year-old daughter up in the air, I was squatting, I was deadlifting. And I went from being in great physical shape to having a doctor tell me I would likely be permanently disabled and not be able to do the things that I loved.

And for that first 24 hours, I felt despair, I felt hopelessness, and I thought my life was over. But I had a spiritual moment where I connected with God, and I felt like the thing that was, that was spoken to me nonverbally was, I am bigger than your diagnosis. And so part of what I had was a shift in perspective.

Is I was in a state a couple years ago where, by the way, I did not walk for an entire year. I was bedridden. I couldn't even be in a wheelchair. Chair because the infection and the pain in my back was so bad. And a lot of people didn't know this.

And I was in this situation and I went from being in that situation for a day feeling like my life was over and I was focused on all, all of the negative things that were happening to me in my life in a, in a, in a moment of victimhood of how bad things are, to then in a moment I was able to shift my focus to God.

I was able to shift my focus to being grateful for where I was in life and started to believe that I would be healed, I would be restored, and be grateful no matter what the circumstances are.

And so if you're a person that is in a situation right now and you've got a mountain or a Red Sea in front of you, and you feel like there is no way I can heal, I've been, I've been trying for 10 years to overcome my inflammatory bowel disease, to, you know, I just got this cancer diagnosis, I've got this relationship that's, that's destroyed, know that if you shift your perspective, you can heal.

Think about how to look at things from not just your perspective, but God's perspective, okay? And so I think it's important to think about it in that way. And for me, again, it was just a shift in perspective. I was focusing on how bad things could be. I was focused on the diagnosis that this one doctor gave me. And when I was able to shift it to, what does God say about me in his word?

What is the truth that I know from working with patients is that the body has an amazing capacity to heal. And so I wanna walk you through how to build a mindset of gratefulness and how that can help you experience breakthroughs in all areas of your life. The famed Stoic Cicero said this: gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all of the others.

And I think there is an element of truth to that. Now, I think that love is the other one we could, we could throw up there, especially the love in the Judeo-Christian perspective of the self-sacrifice. But gratitude with that is focusing on the best. It's focusing on God. It's fixing your eyes on the right thing. And that's so important when you have a condition.

And now listen, I have worked with tens of thousands of patients, and I have seen the majority of them go through my advice and what I laid out for them and reverse type 2 diabetes, reverse autoimmune disease, reverse hypothyroidism, get off all of their medications. I've seen people reverse cancer, including my own mom.

I've been able to see that, but I've also seen people who didn't get those results. And one of the biggest factors between those 2 groups is one had an attitude and a mindset of gratitude, of virtue, of determination, of having the right perspective about healing in their life, and the other group in most cases did not.

And I think that that is the single biggest factor when it comes to somebody healing or experiencing a breakthrough. Now, I want to go through some medical studies that prove how gratitude actually can impact our outcomes. And the first here was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the participants Patients who kept a weekly gratitude journal.

So basically all they did is on a daily basis, they wrote down a few things they were grateful for. And those people experienced a 25% increase in happiness, fewer physical symptoms, so less pain, less headaches, and less stomach issues, and improved immune function in the study. And so the key takeaway here is regular gratitude journaling can enhance both mental and physical health.

Most of us, when we think of our physical health issues, we just think maybe about medications or our diet. The reality is this: your mental health and your mindset impact your physical health even more than the food you eat. Remember, there is a mind-body connection. We want to enhance that mind-body connection so you can heal and experience breakthrough.

Now, there's a second study here, and this was published in the Applied Psychology Journal. And the findings were this: individuals who practiced gratitude before falling asleep had, had fell asleep faster and had around 10 to 15% better sleep quality and longer duration of sleep. So getting grateful, and here is why most people can't sleep at night.

One of the biggest reasons is people's mind starts to race. They start thinking about this or this. What do I have to do tomorrow? This problem in my life, this relationship issue. And If instead you could go and read your Bible or something spiritual growth related, or you could think about what you're grateful in your life.

Again, this is all a shift in perspective from your problems to what you're grateful for. Better sleep all around.

Now, there's another study here, and this was published in the Journal of Emotion in 2010, and they found partners who regularly expressed gratitude toward one another experienced a 20% increase in relationship satisfaction, also greater emotional closeness and a stronger sense of security.

And this is something we all don't do enough, is looking at your partner, your spouse, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, the person you're connected to in your life and saying, I appreciate you. Thank you for doing this in my life and in the life of others.

Like one thing I try and do with Chelsea regularly, and by the way, I can do a better job of this, But it's walking up to her, giving her a hug first thing in the morning and say, how can I support you today? And letting her know the truth. You're an amazing mom. You're an amazing wife. I saw the way you did this with Arwen and Aelin, our daughters. That just blew me away.

Your love, your nurturing, your just ability as a mother. Thank you so much. And hey, thank you for being my encourager. Thank you so much for, for doing that for me. Doing that with your partner, with your spouse, is powerful according to the study. And there's a, there's a quote here from Kristen Armstrong.

She says this: When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in. You get what you focus on. Now, there was a movie that came out years ago and it was called The Secret, and it was all about the law of attraction. Now, I think there is some truth To that, but I also think there is some, a level of untruth to that video.

I think that part of my problem with The Secret was they tried to make God into your genie in a bottle, okay? So whatever you ask God for and focus on, that happens. I don't think that's truth in reality at all. However, I do think you're going to tend to get what you focus on. You know, one of the issues today in medicine, let me first talk about it in terms of finances.

In finances, if you just study poverty your entire life, that's not going to make you a millionaire or billionaire. That's not gonna make you financially wealthy.

However, if you study people that are wealthy, like Warren Buffett, like Peter Thiel, like Cathie Wood, like Dave Ramsey, like Mark Cuban, like Elon Musk, these people that have been very successful in their life, that have a lot of money, if you study them and apply their principles to your life, you will likely become more wealthy yourself.

However, in the health industry, what we do is we tend to focus on, you know, most doctors focus on disease only. It's the only thing they ever focus on is they learn how to treat a disease. They never actually learn nutrition, exercise, herbal medicine, natural therapies like infrared light or hyperbaric. They never learn any of that in school at all.

And so they never actually help you get healthy. They just give you a toxin in a medication and you continue to get worse over time. My point is this: you get what you focus on. If you focus on how to build wealth and you study it and you go after it, you're likely to be wealthy. If you focus on health, true health, nutrition, those sort of things, you're likely to become healthier.

If you focus on gratitude versus being entitled or being a victim or all the things you don't have in life, your lack of, you're likely to continue to get a lack of. When When you read the documentaries or watch documentaries, when you read biographies of the people that were in a terrible place in life, they were orphans, they had no money, they had no privilege in their life.

They didn't sit there and focus on those things. They instead decided to focus and live out gratitude and their purpose in life, and they achieved something that no one thought possible. And so if you're living in a victim state right now, It's anti-gratitude. It's being in a state that's going to make you sick and bring more disease to your body.

Now, we covered the scientific impacts of better sleep, better health, better outcomes in your life when you focus on an attitude of gratitude. Now let's talk about what the Bible has to say about this.

You know, the Bible offers numerous teachings on gratitude, and Jesus himself indirectly emphasized gratitude through his teachings on contentment, humility, and I think thankfulness is a synonym for gratitude. You know, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this: Give thanks in all circumstances. Be grateful in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you.

It is God's will for you to be grateful, for you to be thankful in every circumstance in your life. And this verse reminds us that gratitude is not conditional. It's not based on your circumstances. You had a bad week, so you can be grumbling and complaining and living in a state of victimhood. No, it says in all circumstances, no matter how bad you have it, live in a grateful state.

It's something we are to practice in all circumstances, aligning our heart with God's will. Philippians 4:6-7 says this: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, with gratitude, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Gratitude brings peace.

It guards against anxiety. You know, in giving thanks, we open the door to God's peace. Listen, when you're living in a state of victimhood and grumbling and focusing on all the wrong things, it kind of shuts the door. To the Holy Spirit, to God, and versus opening up and saying, God, listen, I'm in a terrible spot right now. I don't feel well. I've been sick for years.

But, but listen, I know, God, that you're my healer. You're my redeemer. You're the best Father ever. It opens the door to healing when you praise, when you're grateful, when you're thankful, even in difficult situations. And in Luke 17:11-19, this is a passage where Jesus heals 10 lepers. But only one returns to thank him. And Jesus says this, were not all 10 cleansed? Where are the other 9?

And then it says this later on, by acknowledging the one who came back with gratitude, Jesus highlights the importance of thankfulness and humility that comes with it. Hey everyone, Dr. Josh Axe here. Listen, if you are struggling with restless nights and daily stress, I have a revolutionary solution for you.

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SoulTech Health, rest, recover, and rejuvenate. So Jesus says we're not all 10 cleansed. Where are the other 9? By doing this, Jesus is acknowledging the one who came back was grateful. Jesus highlights the importance of thankfulness and that humility that comes with it.

And then Matthew 15:36, before performing the miracle in feeding the 4,000 people with just 7 loaves of bread and a few fish, Jesus gives thanks. This shows his gratitude for the resources at hand, however small. Listen, He was asked to do the impossible, feed 4,000 people with 7 loaves of bread and a few fish. Yet he gave thanks and was grateful before it.

Again, we want to model that same thing in our life. Listen, if you are struggling with something in your life, relational, physical, spiritual, at work, whatever it is, be grateful through it all and focus on the best outcomes. And it's most likely to lead you to the best outcome. You know, gratitude is often about seeing things from a new perspective. That's the big thing.

I mean, often you can have 2 people in a room see something and it's radically different, radically different. You know, when I, I was talking to a pastor about this and when we were going through COVID and I told him, I said, Pastor Bill, I said, you know, I feel really disappointed.

In how a lot of people have sort of sold out or given up or going along with, with these, uh, unhealthy recommendations. And he said, he said, yeah, I understand the disappointment. He said, but you wanna make sure also that you're grateful because he said, you know what, we're in a time right now where we're being persecuted.

We're in a time right now where you have an authoritarian, you know, we, we have people in government that are trying to keep businesses from thriving, keep people from be— being healthy and control them. And he said, when you go through difficult seasons, this is a time where you get to break out as a leader. It's the light shines the brightest when it's the darkest out. Okay?

You can't see a flame from far away when it's— when the sun is bright out. When the sun dips down and it gets dark out, now you can see that light and you get to be that light. So even when you're going through hard times in the world, Know that you get to be the light. When I was going through my spinal infection, I wanted to grumble and complain, but instead I decided I wanted to be a light.

So anytime anyone came over, anytime my family was around, I decided I was going to have an attitude of gratitude. I was going to write a book. I was going to spend time with my daughter. I was going to do everything I can to encourage people. And people said, hey, how are you doing? I would say, you know what? I'm obviously in bed right now.

I'm obviously, you know, struggling physically, But God performs miracles. I'm going to get out of this bed. I'm going to be exercising again. I'm going to get back to 100% again. And I'm just so grateful that I— to be able to go through this experience so I can use this experience to help others who are battling something similar in their life in the future.

And there's a Bible verse I love, and it says, and God uses all things for good for those who love him and to those who are called according to his purposes. If you know that God turns lemons into lemonade, do that. That's a perspective. If someone hands you lemons, Don't say somebody just handed me a bunch of sour fruit versus you know what I can do?

I can add a little sweetness to this and I can make lemonade. That's how you want to focus on this. Many times our dissatisfaction stems from focusing on what we lack instead of appreciating what we have, right? That so many of us are so in a state of privilege that we just focus on all the things we don't have versus focusing on how blessed we are.

That will lead to that healing mindset and more gratitude. There's a Persian proverb that sums this up perfectly. I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. Think about that. If you are— if you have a television and you have a car, you're in the top 1% in the world. Okay? And it doesn't take long to look at someone else around you to realize that they have less than you.

We should all be so, so grateful. And so we wanna be able to build that sort of mindset because that's the healing mindset that will allow you to bring, that will allow you to experience that healing breakthrough.

You know, this powerful saying, it really reminded me, and by the way, when I was going through my back issue, I was on Fa— I was, I was scrolling on social media and I saw somebody who had lost their leg. It was a, it was an Army veteran. And I remember thinking, gosh, I have this infection in my back and I'm healing.

And I know a doctor's telling me I likely won't get back to 100%, but I'm gonna sit down right now and pray for this person to realize this is a worse situation than I'm in. This is a much worse situation. It's a harder situation. And so, and, and it just, it, it allowed me to become even more grateful for the position I was in in life. So I wanna encourage you. Yeah. Switch your perspective.

Again, focus on what you have, not on what you lack. Here's another thing to do: reframe challenges as opportunities, right? If you have a challenge in front of you, know— like when I was going through that back challenge, I knew I was going to become smarter.

I studied so— I spent so much time reading medical journals and studying longevity and how to extend my lifespan and how to heal with regenerative and cellular medicine. I also prayed to God. I said, God, would you allow me to grow spiritually and mentally through this challenge? So I saw this challenge as something that would refine me and help me grow more like God, more like Christ.

So gratitude teaches us that even hardships can bring lessons and create new paths and possibilities. It did that because I went through that. It opened up completely new possibilities for my life. So know that and be looking out for those when you're going through a challenge. Also, look for the small blessings. Sometimes the key to happiness is finding joy in the small things.

A kind word, a good meal, a quiet moment. You know, I remember I was reading when I had this back issue, one of my favorite books, Man's Search for Meaning. It's Viktor Frankl. And he talks about a woman who was in a concentration camp.

And he said he felt like she was just days away from dying because she was so malnourished and so ill. And he said, but she always had a smile and she was the happiest person in the entire concentration camp. And he walked up to her one time and he said, what are you doing? And she said, I'm looking out the window. And he said, at what?

And he said, it was early spring and there was no leaves on the trees. However, there was one single flower on a tree. And she says, I'm looking at that flower and it's telling me I am life. I am eternal life.

And she said— he said, I was blown away that somebody who had the worst of the worst situation, even in the concentration camp, that she could still find that one thing in all the misery around her. She was able to find that one flower budding and put her focus on that.

That's, that's what gratitude is, is you can have everything going wrong around you and you want to focus on that one positive and fix your eyes on that one thing. Now I want to share with you 5 surprising facts and statistics about gratitude. So the first here, and this, this has to do with more of these medical studies, I want to prove the efficacy here, and that is gratitude reduces stress.

Research from the University of California Berkeley shows that individuals who keep a gratitude journal have 23% lower levels of cortisol. Another study at the University of Pennsylvania found that employees who regularly receive appreciation from their managers are 50% more productive. Now, this should tell you something.

If you are a boss or a leader, you need to tell your team regularly what you're grateful for, for them, what they're doing well, and praise and recognize what they're doing well. There's another study here in the Journal of Somatic Medicine, and it found that gratitude improves cardiovascular health and lowers blood pressure by 16%.

Another study found in the Journal of Positive Psychology that practicing gratitude helps people bounce back from adversity much more quickly and from conditions like depression. And another study found that people who are grateful experienced 18% higher satisfaction with their life and had longer lifespans. People that are grateful actually live longer.

So know this, gratitude has a major impact on your health. On your spiritual growth, and on your success in life.

There are study after study that shows this, that if you go into things with an attitude of gratitude, you're more— you have greater character, you have more virtue, you're more resilient, you are more patient, you have better focus, you have better decision-making, you're better able to see the big picture and be more of a visionary for long-term success.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that you have greater achievements in your life and better career outcomes. You're more successful in every single area of your life when you switch your perspective and focus on the positive thing and live with a grateful mindset. Here are a few ways and habits to implement to become more grateful. Number 1, have a gratitude journal.

Write down 3 things you're grateful for every day. This small but consistent practice can significantly start to shift your mindset. Okay? By the way, this takes 5 minutes or less. It's not long. You could sit down and just write it out or type it on the notes on your phone. Number 2, gratitude and prayer. Start every prayer with thanksgiving. Oftentimes we approach God with what we want from him.

Instead, we should approach him with thanksgiving, acknowledging who God is and the blessings we receive from him. Number 3, gratitude letters. Write a letter of gratitude to somebody that's positively impacted your life. Maybe it's a parent, a coach, a teacher, a coworker, a pastor, but someone in your life who's had a positive impact. Write them a letter.

Could be handwritten, could be typed out, but actually send it to them will be positive. And if you don't want to write a letter, by the way, I encourage you write the letter. But at the very least, send a text message. Okay? Message somebody that you're grateful once a week, every week. Number 4, gratitude walks.

This for me is my biggest practice, is every morning I wake up, I try and go on a walk and praise God and tell him what I'm grateful for. This, when I do this versus when I don't do this, dramatically impacts my day. When I start my day with that gratitude walk, I am a better person. I have more character. I have a better mindset throughout the entire day. And number 5, gratitude reminders.

Use notes or phone reminders to prompt you to think of something you're grateful for throughout the day. There's a quote here I love by Melody, uh, Betty, and it says this: Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and even more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity. It's so true. Gratitude is more than just a feeling.

It's a a mindset that transforms how we experience life, and it's backed by science, it's supported by scripture, and it's acceptable to everyone by simply shifting our perspective to being grateful and not living it.

And I'm going to tell you this again, if you're in a victim mentality and you're thinking, woe is me, or I'm a victim, or this person owes me, the world owes me, the government owns me, that is the most toxic and deteriorating mindset you can have. You not only destroy yourself, nobody around you likes that.

Nobody likes being around somebody that's ungrateful, entitled, living with a victim mindset. People love being around somebody that's positive, that's grateful, and that's encouraging of others. Be that person. Be that light in the world and commit to practicing gratitude daily to enrich your own life, to heal, And enrich the lives of those around you.

I love talking about gratitude because it's something that has so directly impacted my life. I truly believe that I'm walking in close to 100% after having a life-threatening illness because I maintained a grateful mindset throughout that trial and tribulation in my life. And I wanna say thank you so much for, for listening here and watching the Dr. Josh Axe Show.

Remember, every week I'm diving deep into the health principles and the life principles of how you can heal and take your life to the highest level physically, mentally, and spiritually. Also, make sure to subscribe, like, and share the show. Um, every time you share this and subscribe and comment, know that you are allowing this show to grow so I can bring on better guests.

We can have a bigger impact together. So know I'm so grateful for you being on mission with me. Thank you. I'll see you on the next episode.