Overview

Pregnancy is a time of significant emotional and physical changes. You may be coping with challenging symptoms like morning sickness or feeling anxious about giving birth and stepping into motherhood. Amid these challenges, there is also so much to be grateful for. Taking a moment to focus on the positive aspects can help provide balance and perspective and make your journey a little easier to navigate. This episode explores what gratitude is, the scientific evidence on its effects, and practical advice to help you cultivate more gratitude during pregnancy and beyond.

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Transcript and Resources

This week’s Q&A episode is a little different. Instead of answering a listener question, I’ll dive into some questions I’ve been curious about and thought would be worth exploring.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, this feels like the perfect time to reflect on everything I’m grateful for. I’m deeply honored that you trust me to provide evidence-based information to help you navigate your pregnancy and birth. I truly love what I do and am so grateful for the listeners and sponsors who support this podcast. As I thought about why I’m grateful for the opportunity to create this podcast, it sparked some questions. While practicing gratitude seems beneficial anecdotally, I wondered: what does the science say? Is there evidence that gratitude has measurable benefits? Can gratitude positively influence your pregnancy? What are the best ways to practice it? And can I uncover practical tips to help you incorporate more gratitude into your life?

Finding Gratitude Amid the Challenges of Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a time of significant emotional and physical changes. You may be coping with challenging symptoms like morning sickness or feeling anxious about giving birth and stepping into motherhood. In difficult moments, it’s easy to focus on the negatives and become overwhelmed by stress and worry. This is especially true if you are navigating pregnancy for the first time and do not have the experience to guide you in what to expect.

However, there’s so much to be grateful for, even amid these challenges. Simply having the opportunity to experience pregnancy is a gift worth appreciating. That said, gratitude doesn’t mean ignoring the difficult aspects of your journey. It’s okay to acknowledge when things are hard. At the same time, taking a moment to focus on the positive aspects can help provide balance and perspective. Perhaps, even making the journey a little easier to navigate. Let’s explore what gratitude is, what the scientific evidence shows on its effect, and how you can incorporate it into your life.

What is Gratitude?

Gratitude is the feeling or expression of thankfulness and appreciation. To experience gratitude is to recognize and acknowledge the positive. Gratitude can be directed toward abstract concepts like nature or spirituality, toward other people, oneself, or even life in general.

The Evidence on Gratitude

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a lot of research and evidence on expressing gratitude.

A review highlights the scientific research showing many social, mental, and physical effects of practicing gratitude. Overall, gratitude interventions were found to elucidate positive emotions including subjective happiness, life satisfaction, less negative emotions, decreased depressive symptoms, and improved mood and well-being.

Gratitude promotes positive emotions within families and among couples, leading to improved relationships. It correlates with stronger social interactions, which include better perceptions of support and greater social relationships during stressful events. Gratitude also impacts the body’s physiological functions, including brain function and physical health. Gratitude stimulates brain activities in the anterior and prefrontal cortices related to personality, emotions, self-perception, cognitive function, social behavior, memory, and altruistic tendencies. This practice can also actually reduce heart rate and improve cardiac health. Overall, gratitude is an evidence-based tool to promote overall well-being.

A systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated that participants who underwent gratitude interventions had greater feelings of gratitude, greater satisfaction with life, better mental health, and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Research on Gratitude During Pregnancy

There is a pile of evidence to support the positive effects of gratitude in general. What about research that specifically examines the effects of gratitude interventions during pregnancy?

Research shows gratitude interventions can reduce prenatal stress and cortisol levels during pregnancy. While there are documented effects during pregnancy, practicing gratitude can benefit you well into your journey as a mother. A study shows that gratitude was associated with higher perceived relationship quality during pregnancy. This was associated with higher maternal-fetal bonding. Which in turn was associated with higher psychological well-being and personal growth after childbirth.

How to Practice Gratitude

Cultivating gratitude occasionally is one thing, but developing a regular practice is another. Turning gratitude into a habit can have lasting benefits during pregnancy and throughout your life. How exactly do you do that?

In scientific research, gratitude practices often include writing, such as making lists of things you’re grateful for, journaling, or composing letters of gratitude to others. You can also express gratitude internally by reflecting on things you appreciate or through mindfulness meditations that focus on feelings of gratitude. Additionally, acts of kindness or participation in charitable activities can be meaningful ways to express gratitude.

An easy way to start is by simply listing things you’re grateful for. For example, you might write down three things each morning or before bed. The key is to keep it simple and sustainable. Set a daily reminder on your phone or place a sticky note on your bathroom mirror or computer to prompt you to reflect on what you’re grateful for. This small habit can make a big difference over time.

Research suggests that longer forms of writing, like gratitude letters, may have even more profound effects. Writing a letter of gratitude to someone—whether you mail it, email it, or never send it—can be a deeply meaningful and psychologically enriching experience. This Thanksgiving, consider taking a moment to write a gratitude letter. You could write to someone special, such as a partner, a close friend, or even your future baby. If you prefer journaling privately, you can write an entry reflecting on what you’re grateful for and why.

My Gratitude Letter to You

It seems appropriate to end this episode with my own gratitude letter to you:

Pregnancy is an incredibly special time, but it certainly doesn’t come without challenges. I started this podcast because I couldn’t find a resource that provided evidence-based information in this format. My goal has always been to give you the tools and information you need to confidently navigate your pregnancy, and I am so grateful that you trust me to be a part of your journey.

Time is the most valuable resource any of us has. I genuinely appreciate that you choose to spend some of your time listening to me. Whether you’re tuning in during your commute, or relaxing at home, or even while folding laundry, it means so much that you’re here.

I also want to thank you for your patience with the advertisements. While I know they can sometimes feel like a nuisance, they play a vital role in supporting this podcast and enabling me to continue creating free content for you.

Every time an episode is downloaded, and every interaction I have with a is an incredible reminder of how lucky I am to be a small part of such an important time in your life. Hosting the Pregnancy Podcast has been the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. It’s truly a privilege to be alongside you in this journey, and I hope I can continue doing this for many years to come.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support of this podcast and for allowing me to be part of your pregnancy journey.

With gratitude,
Vanessa

Thank you to the amazing companies that have supported this episode.

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