[Health Column] Give in Measure, Receive in Words

Seongwon Noh, Professor of Psychiatry, Hanyang University Hospital

When it comes to financial investment, many say that investing in real estate reconstruction is the best option. However, it requires various information, knowledge, and most importantly, capital. It can also take more than 10 years. Realistically, how many people can manage that?

If you cannot reconstruct your apartment, how about remodeling your mind instead? Let's soothe the mind that has been stressed all day long. Positive psychology can help with this.

Positive psychology techniques can increase our happiness, satisfaction, and sense of achievement in life with simple methods in a short time. Of course, it can also alleviate the pain of depression. Here is a specific method. For example, invest just 10 minutes every night for a week. During that time, write down three things you did well or enjoyed today, along with the reasons for each. You can use a diary, computer, or smartphone.

The important thing is to leave a record, not just keep it in your head. Don’t just think about it?write it down. These three things may or may not be significant. Next to each of your three items, write why those good things happened. If you spend time every day for a week thinking about joyful things, that week becomes happier. Moreover, if you habitually cultivate a grateful heart, this effect continues. Recall happy memories. Happy memories increase serotonin, the happiness hormone in our brain.

Recalling happy memories daily means having a grateful heart in our daily life. In fact, our brain has a gratitude circuit, but we do not use it well. Perhaps the most important advantage of gratitude is that it improves mood. Gratitude also reduces anxiety.

Our brain has a limit on how many things it can focus on simultaneously. When we cultivate gratitude for good things, negative emotions are pushed out, gratitude takes their place, and worries disappear. A European study revealed the relationship between the degree of gratitude and health, showing that people who express gratitude more often are healthier both physically and psychologically. They are also more likely to engage in health-promoting activities. In a Canadian study, college students with insomnia were asked to keep a gratitude journal for a week. This simple act improved their sleep and reduced physical problems. Additionally, they worried less. People with chronic pain who kept gratitude journals also slept better and experienced reduced anxiety and depression.

It might be difficult to think of things to be grateful for. In that case, write down at least one thing instead of three. If you cannot think of even one, simply write something like "I am grateful for the delicious food I ate today" or "I am grateful for the warm clothes I wore today." Gratitude is the feeling that comes from truly savoring the value of what you have. Through this, gratitude raises your satisfaction with life.

Investing in apartments undergoing reconstruction to increase wealth is not easy, but efforts to remodel your mind require almost no time or money. Gratitude is given in "do" (a traditional Korean unit of volume), and happiness is received in "mal" (another traditional unit), making it a highly cost-effective practice. From now on, let's make a daily profitable trade.

Seongwon Noh, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Hanyang University Hospital

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.