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Did you know that when you feel grateful for something really grateful, not just polite your brain can activate some of the same reward pathways it uses when something feels really good, like a favorite dessert or a proud moment?
What?
Hello friends and welcome back to Sleep Tight Science a bedtime show that answers your questions about science.
You've probably noticed that when you say thank you and really mean it, you feel good.
Not just polite, actually good inside.
And you might have noticed that when someone thanks you, that feels good too.
That warm feeling isn't just nice.
It's your brain doing something specific, releasing chemicals and lighting up certain areas, building connections that get stronger each time you practice.
Tonight's topic was suggested by Michael.
Thank you for sharing your curiosity.
In this episode, we are going to try and answer the following questions.
What is gratitude?
And how does practicing it actually change your brain?
We'll start with what gratitude is and why your brain naturally has a harder time noticing good things than noticing problems.
Then we'll explore what happens inside your brain when you feel grateful, which parts light up, what chemicals get released and why it feels the way it does.
Finally, we'll look at how practicing gratitude creates new pathways in your brain and what scientists have learned about how this changes over time.
Before we continue, here are some words to listen for.
Gratitude.
Noticing and appreciating good things, big or small. neuroplasticity, your brain's ability to change and reshape itself based on what you practice.
Negativity bias, your brain's natural tendency to notice problems and threats more than good things.
Dopamine, a chemical your brain releases that makes you feel good.
Prefrontal cortex, the front part of your brain that helps with planning emotions and understanding others.
Neural pathway, a connection between brain cells that gets stronger the more you use it.
A quiet thank you to Mia, Emily, and Noah from Lugana, Switzerland, for introducing our show, and to all our curious friends who send in questions.
You help us learn together.
Take a few deep belly breaths.
As you do, think about what you might be grateful for, no matter how small.
One last belly breath.
Ready to explore how your brain changes when you practice noticing good things?
Let's begin.
Let's start with a simple question.
What is gratitude?
It's more than just saying thank you. when someone hands you something, though that's part of it.
Gratitude is noticing and appreciating good things, big or small.
It could be a kind thing.
Someone did something beautiful, you saw something that went well, or something you have.
Gratitude is a way of paying attention.
Now, here's where the science gets interesting.
Your brain isn't naturally set up to notice good things easily.
In fact, it's much better at noticing problems.
Scientists call this the negativity bias, and it exists for a good reason.
Survival.
Imagine you're a human living thousands of years ago, walking through tall grass.
You hear rustling.
Your brain has two choices.
Assume it's just the wind, or assume it might be a predator and pay close attention.
The people whose brains said, better safe than sorry, survived.
The people who ignored potential threats didn't.
So evolution gave us brains that scan for danger, for problems, for what might go wrong.
If you ignore a threat, you might not survive.
But if you ignore a pretty flower, you're completely fine.
This negativity bias is still with you today.
It's why one critical comment can stick with you all day, even if 10 people say nice things.
Your brain isn't broken.
It's doing what it was designed to do.
But it does mean good things can slide by unnoticed, unless you pay attention on purpose.
So where does gratitude fit in?
That's where neuroplasticity comes in, one of the most important discoveries in brain science.
For a long time, scientists thought your brain was mostly fixed after childhood, but research has shown that's not true.
Your brain is constantly changing reshaping itself based on what you do, think, and practice.
Scientists call this neuroplasticity.
Neuro means brain.
Plasticity means able to change shape.
Now here's how it works.
Your brain is made up of about 86 billion cells called neurons.
When you think, a thought or do an action, neurons send electric signals to each other, creating connections.
Think that thought once?
The connection is faint, like walking through tall grass for the first time.
You barely leave a trail.
But think it repeatedly?
Ten times?
A hundred times? and the connection gets stronger, the trail becomes clearer.
Eventually, it's a well-worn path your brain can follow easily.
Neuroscientists have a phrase for this, neurons that fire together, wire together.
Brain cells that activate at the same time build stronger connections.
This is how you learn to ride a bike, read, or play an instrument.
Practice strengthens pathways.
And guess what?
This works for thoughts and emotions too.
If you practice worrying, you get better at worrying.
The worry pathways get stronger.
If you practice noticing problems, those pathways get stronger.
And if you practice noticing things you're grateful for, the gratitude pathways get stronger.
Your brain is like a forest.
Some paths are wide and well-traveled because you've walked them many times.
But you can create new paths by walking them intentionally.
Each time you practice gratitude, you're clearing a little more brush, making the trail easier to follow.
You're training your brain.
So gratitude isn't just a nice feeling.
It's a practice that literally reshapes your brain, building new neural pathways that make it easier to notice good things over time.
Let's use our imagination for a moment and take a slow, deep belly breath and picture this in your mind.
A forest with trails.
Some wide, some faint.
Each time you notice something you're grateful for, you walk a gratitude trail.
Step by step, it becomes clearer.
Your brain is learning a new route.
In the next part we'll look at exactly what happens inside your brain when you feel grateful, which part lights up what chemicals flow and why it feels the way it does.
So what actually happens inside your brain when you feel grateful?
Let's follow the process.
When you notice something you appreciate maybe a friend made you laugh, or you're warm and comfortable right now several things happen at once in your brain.
First, your brain activates its reward system and releases dopamine.
A chemical that creates that warm, that was good feeling.
Dopamine is the same chemical that flows when you eat something delicious or accomplish a goal you've been working toward.
It creates a sense of pleasure and satisfaction.
This is what scientists call a positive feedback loop.
Gratitude triggers dopamine.
Dopamine makes you feel good.
Feeling good makes you more likely to notice gratitude again.
Your brain learns this feels rewarding.
Second, parts of the prefrontal cortex become more active.
This is the front part of your brain right behind your forehead.
It's involved in planning, decision-making and emotional regulation managing your feelings so they don't overwhelm you.
The prefrontal cortex also helps with perspective-taking, which means understanding how other people might feel or see a situation.
When you practice gratitude, this area lights up and over time gets stronger.
Essentially, gratitude practice strengthens your ability to regulate emotions and see things from different angles.
Third, something may calm down.
The amygdala.
Your amygdala is a small almond-shaped part of your brain deep inside and it acts like an alarm system.
When you're stressed, scared or worried, your amygdala gets activated, scanning for threats, preparing you to respond.
Studies suggest that gratitude practice over time may help calm this stress response.
When you intentionally notice good things, You're signaling to your brain things are okay, I can relax a bit.
Fourth, if your gratitude involves another person, maybe you're appreciating something someone did for you.
Brain areas involved in empathy and social bonding light up.
These areas help you understand others' feelings. and build connection.
When you feel grateful towards someone, you're strengthening the circuits that help you relate to other people.
This is why expressing gratitude doesn't just help you, it strengthens relationships.
Both people's brains are building connection pathways.
Now, one moment of gratitude It feels nice but it's fleeting.
The real change happens with regular practice over weeks and months.
Some studies have found that people who practice gratitude regularly, even just a few minutes a day, show measurable changes in how their brains respond over time.
They have more activity in the prefrontal cortex, less activity in the amygdala and stronger connections in the brain networks involved in empathy and understanding others.
It's not magic.
It's your brain doing what brains do, changing based on what you practice.
Just like practicing a musical instrument strengthens the pathways for finger coordination and rhythm, Practicing gratitude strengthens the pathways for noticing good things and regulating stress.
Gratitude isn't about ignoring problems or pretending everything is fine.
Your brain already notices problems easily.
Gratitude is about training your brain to also notice good things.
Both can be true.
Something hard is happening and there are things to appreciate.
Your brain is flexible enough to hold both.
Now close your eyes for just a moment and imagine.
Think of something you are grateful for.
In your brain, tiny connections light up like fireflies.
Dopamine flows, your prefrontal cortex glows a little brighter, your stress alarm quiets and somewhere in the forest of your mind, the gratitude trail gets a bit wider, a bit easier to walk.
Tomorrow you might notice how gratitude shows up in your own life and what it feels like when it does.
Here are some things to notice or try.
Pay attention to when gratitude happens naturally.
When you say thank you and really mean it, notice how you feel.
That warm feeling?
That's dopamine flowing your prefrontal cortex, lighting up your brain's reward system, saying this is good.
When someone thanks you, Notice that feeling too.
Your empathy circuits are activating, building connection.
Notice if you feel calmer or lighter after thinking about something you appreciate.
That's your amygdala quieting down, your stress response softening.
Your brain is learning that it's okay to relax.
Some people like to practice gratitude intentionally, maybe thinking of one good thing before bed or noticing three things during the day.
That's fine if it feels natural, but there's no rule that says you have to.
What matters is understanding what's happening.
Each time you notice something you're grateful for, you're strengthening those neural pathways.
You're making the gratitude trail a little clearer in the forest of your brain.
And some days, nothing feels good.
That's completely okay.
Your brain might be in scan for threats mode because something stressful is happening, and that's your negativity bias doing its job, keeping you alert and safe.
You don't have to force gratitude when your brain needs to focus on a problem.
The pathways are still there when you're ready.
Tomorrow at breakfast or whenever you can.
You might talk about one small thing you noticed that felt good, or whether saying thank you feels different when you really mean it versus when you're just being polite.
So back to Michael's question.
Gratitude changes your brain through neuroplasticity.
When you practice noticing and appreciating good things, You build new neural pathways, release dopamine, strengthen your prefrontal cortex, calm your amygdala and activate empathy circuits.
Your brain literally reshapes itself based on what you practice thinking about, and gratitude is one thing you can choose to practice.
Here's a wave to some of our question askers.
Karina, age 9, from Toronto, Ontario.
Evie Mullen, age 9.
Ella, 7 years old, from Rochester, New York.
Liam.
Kyren, age 5, in Las Vegas.
William, 7 years old, from Tucson, Arizona.
Virginia, age five in Massachusetts.
Miles Fox from Sunnyvale, California.
Elliot, seven years old.
Eva, six years old in Pinecrest, Florida.
Dawn.
Maggie, eight years old.
Lamia, seven years old from Rockford, Illinois.
And Callum. age five from Norwich, Vermont.
Thank you for asking questions that spark our curiosity and keep us learning.
To submit your questions.
Ask your parents to help you.
Write us a note to the email address in our episode notes.
You can also visit our website and send a message that way.
Also, don't forget to leave us a review.
It helps other people find our show.
Did you know that sleep is one of the times your brain quietly organizes what you practice during the day, strengthening memories and learning in gentle ways?
If you thought about something you were grateful for even once.
Those neurons are still connecting, still strengthening, still building that trail through the forest.
Maybe tonight you'll dream about good things you noticed.
Or maybe you'll dream about something entirely different.
Either way, your brain is doing its work, reshaping itself based on what you practiced.
Close your eyes if you like and let your shoulders soften.
Picture the forest of your mind at rest.
Some paths are well-worn and wide.
Some are just beginning.
Faint trails waiting to be walked again.
All of them are part of you.
All of them can change.
Let your breath follow an easy rhythm.
In and out.
Nothing to fix, nothing to force.
Tomorrow is another chance to notice, to walk whichever path feels right.
Your brain is ready.
The forest is quiet and waiting.
We're glad you spent this time with us.
From Cheryl and Clark, good night.
If the show helps your family, a quick rating or short review is really helps others find us.
Thank you.
