Being grateful is good for your mental health. I set out this week to find out if this was true because I thought it would be a wonderful health message to share this season. And to my utter delight, I discovered it is.Research by psychology professors Robert Emmons, at the University of California, and Michael McCullough, at the University of Miami, proved the theory long-held by many. In the studies subjects were divided into three groups each with a separate focus. One group focused on things that bothered them irritants or hassles, another on things for which they were grateful and the third group focused on their day-to-day living.The results were clear. The gratitude-focused group was found to be not only more joyful than people in the other two groups but also more optimistic, energetic, enthusiastic, determined and interested in life.And the research also showed that people who focused on gratitude slept longer and had more restful sleep than those in the other groups. This is more beneficial than you may think, as sleep research proves that adequate restful sleep is a necessary ingredient for good health.Taking time to focus on what you are grateful for was also shown to increase feelings of connectedness with others. This is an especially wonderful feeling to engender and cultivate at Christmas.Local health coach Preston Ephraim III said: “To live in a state of gratitude is the pathway to a state of abundance. Whatever I put my attention on grows. If I put my attention on what is not working, that’s what will come up, if I put it to what is good and great in my life and practice a gratitude filled life, then that’s what I will get more of.”It’s part of the philosophy he awakens his clients to so that they can live a balanced healthy life.“We all go through storms, I acknowledge that,” he said. “But if in those storms we are able to focus on what is going right in our lives, what we are grateful for we will be able to hold fast. If we are not focused on gratitude, love and happiness, we can become sick and depressed.”He said problems like eating for comfort, and various addictions stem from unhappiness and not being grateful.“In my own life when I am in gratitude and weathering the storms, I see the path,” he said.“Imagine you have a problem and you are focusing on it. You are walking down the street with your head down engrossed in trying to sort out the problem. If you focus on what you are grateful for you’ll be happier, you’ll walk down the same street with your head up. Having your head up an acquaintance or old friend may then see you and present you with an opportunity you had never considered.”These subtle advantages of practicing gratitude can have a profound impact on our lives according to Mr Ephraim.But there’s evidence too that feel good hormones serotonin and endorphins are released when we focus on what we are grateful for. This results in us feeling good and feeling good paves the way for us to be more positive, and trusting in life.In these times of economic uncertainty and even hardship, it behoves even the most sceptical among us to experiment with the practice. It won’t cost you anything more than a bit of time and, according to those in the field, a likely reduction in anxiety, unhappiness and sickness.“Gratitude is a mind training,” said Mr Ephraim. “There are simple things you can do that will help you stay in a state of gratitude,” he added.Eating whole foods, meditating regularly, pampering yourself and building a support group of people who are grateful, are all beneficial in keeping you focused on what’s going right in your life, according to Mr Ephraim.He also suggests reading A Course in Miracles and books by authors Dwayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay.