Gratitude + journaling = reduced caregiver stress
Caregiver stress is an inevitable part of the job when you’re caring for an older adult. But there are ways to keep it from becoming overwhelming.
Two effective methods are to practice gratitude and to write in a journal.
And there’s even a way to efficiently combine these two stress management techniques into one simple activity – the free 10- or 21-day guided gratitude journal challenge.
The challenge was created by Thnx4, an innovative project from the University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.
We explain how gratitude and journaling reduce caregiver stress and improve health and well-being as well as how the Thx4 gratitude journal challenge works.
How gratitude and journaling reduce stress
When life is challenging, we often get stuck in the mindset that everything around us is negative or bad.
Gratitude reduces caregiver stress because it helps you notice that there are still positives in life, even in the middle of tough times.
Regularly practicing gratitude and noticing positive things helps lower stress, boost mood, protect from depression, improve sleep, boost immune system, and more.
Journaling is another powerful way to reduce caregiver stress.
Getting thoughts and feelings down on paper and out of your head has been shown to improve health as well as help with problem-solving and decision-making.
Putting those two things together, like this challenge does, gives you the benefits of both in one simple activity!
How the Thnx4 gratitude challenge works
Thnx4 is an online gratitude journal where you record what you’re grateful for.
Take a peek at their public gratitude journal to see what others are saying.
How the gratitude challenge works
When you register for either the 10- or 21-day gratitude challenge, you’ll start with a pre-challenge survey that measures your social and emotional well-being.
All survey responses are kept completely confidential.
During the challenge, you’ll get emails that remind and invite you to record what you felt grateful for recently.
For the 10-day intensive, you’ll get an email daily on weekdays for 2 weeks. For the 21-day challenge, you’ll get an email every other day for 3 weeks.
Each time you make an entry in your online gratitude journal, you can choose to keep that entry private (seen only by you) or make it public.
At the end of the challenge, you’ll take a final survey to see how your levels of gratitude and well-being have changed over time.
When the challenge is over, you can choose if you’d like to keep getting email reminders to use Thnx4 – daily, weekly, monthly, or never.
The Thnx4 project helps people live happier lives
UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center created the Thnx4 project to help people lead healthier, happier lives.
It’s based on 20 years of research showing that people who regularly feel grateful see positive results, including:
- Better health – for example: reduced risk of heart disease
- Better sleep
- Less anxiety
- More joy and optimism
Get inspired and uplifted by the public gratitude journal
Even if you don’t participate in the challenge, you can read the Thnx4 public journal to see the grateful moments that other people have chosen to share.
Their entries might inspire you to notice more positive things in your life and feel gratitude.
Next Step Try the free 10- or 21-day gratitude challenge from Thnx4 at UC Berkeley
Recommended for you:
- 5 Ways to Use a Journal to Reduce Caregiver Stress
- 4 Sources of Affordable Counseling Services to Reduce Caregiver Stress
- 3 Ways to Prevent Caregiver Stress and Burnout
By DailyCaring Editorial Team
Image: YourLifeChoices
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