People in a recent study who were more grateful had lower blood pressure and heart rate, as well as greater feelings of appreciation toward others.
The study, published in the journal Emotion, finds that optimism was also linked to health and mental benefits, such as better sleep quality and more positive expectations and reflections.
Researchers examined these traits through a cell phone app called MyBPLab with embedded sensors that measured blood pressure and heart rates of 4,825 participants from around the world including the United States, Australia, India, and Hong Kong. Previous studies on gratitude and optimism often involved laboratory visits or brain scans for data collection….