Three useful ideas, one challenge and something a little different for your weekend.
Welcome to the Weekend Wellbeing Read from Wellness Within Club.
We’ve picked out three recent pieces of wellbeing research worth knowing about — without turning them into a science lesson.
This week: why gratitude may be connected with healthier choices, why improving just one part of your lifestyle could matter, and an interesting finding about volunteering, purpose and wellbeing.
Then there’s a relationship question to test yourself on — and finally, a good excuse to get your hands dirty this weekend.
1. Could gratitude actually help us make healthier choices?
Gratitude is normally associated with feeling happier or appreciating what we already have.
But recent research suggests it may be connected with something else too:
the everyday choices we make about our health.
Researchers analysed 24 different samples involving almost 7,000 people.
People reporting greater gratitude also tended to report more health-promoting behaviours across areas including healthy eating, exercise, sleep and stress management.
That doesn’t prove that writing down three things you’re grateful for will suddenly make you exercise more or eat better. The research found an association rather than direct cause and effect.
But it does raise an interesting possibility:
Could appreciating what we have also make us more inclined to look after it?
Try it this weekend
Instead of simply asking:
“What am I grateful for?”
add another question:
“What’s one thing I could do today to look after something I value?”
That could mean taking a walk, getting to bed earlier, making yourself a decent meal or spending time with someone important to you.
2. You don’t have to change everything
Healthy living advice can become exhausting.
Sleep better. Exercise more. Eat better. Sit less. Manage stress.
Stop this.
Start that.
So a recent study using UK Biobank data caught our attention.
Researchers followed 18,678 people and examined seven lifestyle areas including smoking, alcohol, diet, body weight, physical activity, sleep and sedentary behaviour.
People whose lifestyles improved over time subsequently had lower rates of depression and anxiety.
One particularly interesting finding was that each additional healthy lifestyle factor adopted was associated with an 18% lower risk of depression and a 7% lower risk of anxiety.
That doesn’t mean making one change guarantees an 18% reduction in an individual’s risk. This was an observational population study, so it identifies associations rather than proving direct cause and effect.
The encouraging message is much simpler:
Improvement counted. Perfection wasn’t required.
Try it this weekend
Don’t choose seven things to change.
Choose one.
What is the easiest healthy change you could make slightly more consistently next week?
3. Volunteering may give us something different from happiness
This one particularly caught our attention at Wellness Within Club.
Researchers analysed information from 7,146 adults in England and looked at volunteering alongside several measures of wellbeing.
People who volunteered were more likely to report feeling that the things they did in life were worthwhile.
But volunteering wasn’t significantly associated with greater happiness, life satisfaction or reduced loneliness once other factors were considered.
There was also a surprising finding:
Volunteers reported slightly higher levels of anxiety.
That absolutely doesn’t mean volunteering causes anxiety. The researchers are clear that the study cannot establish cause and effect.
But it does challenge the simple assumption that volunteering automatically makes somebody happier.
Perhaps volunteering can provide something different:
purpose, meaning and the feeling that what you do matters.
And that leads to another important point.
Someone can find their volunteer role deeply rewarding and still need support themselves.
A thought for organisations
Charities understandably concentrate on the people they exist to help.
But what about the people doing the helping?
Supporting volunteer wellbeing doesn’t diminish their commitment — it recognises it.
Wellness Within Club provides wellbeing support for groups including charities and volunteers, businesses, universities, students, staff, societies and other organisations.
We’ll be returning to this subject in more detail.
Challenge Yourself This Week
What might help couples feel closer?
Researchers recently studied more than 500 people in romantic relationships.
They found that one particular type of couples experience was associated with greater relationship satisfaction and a deeper sense of connection.
What was it?
A. Creating stricter routines together
B. Experiencing something that creates a sense of awe
C. Buying each other unexpected presents
The answer: B — experiencing awe together
Think about standing beneath an incredible night sky, seeing an extraordinary view, hearing music that stops you in your tracks or discovering somewhere completely new together.
Across two studies involving 504 partnered adults, people reporting more shared awe also reported greater relationship satisfaction and several measures of deeper connection.
Again, this research found associations — it wasn’t a relationship treatment trial — so we shouldn’t claim that a spectacular sunset will magically transform a struggling relationship.
But perhaps there is a useful weekend idea hidden inside it:
Do something together that makes you both stop and say “wow”.
It doesn’t have to cost anything.
Something to Make You Smile
Apparently, getting dirty might actually be good for us
For generations, children have been told:
“Don’t get your hands dirty.”
Science may be making that advice slightly harder to defend.
Recent research highlighted by the BBC has been looking at what happens when people have direct contact with natural materials such as soil, moss, plants and grass.
In one experiment, people rubbed soil, peat and moss onto their hands for just 20 seconds.
Researchers found that this increased the abundance and variety of microbes on their skin — even after rinsing their hands with tap water.
Other research is investigating whether regular exposure to diverse natural environments could have useful effects on our microbiome and immune system.
There is still plenty we don’t know, and nobody is suggesting that hygiene has suddenly become unnecessary.
But it does provide a rather pleasing wellbeing message:
Sometimes getting outside, touching nature and coming home slightly muddy might not be such a bad thing after all.
So if somebody complains about your dirty hands this weekend…
you can always tell them you’re conducting research.
A little from Wellness Within Club
Wellbeing isn’t one thing.
It can involve sleep, stress, confidence, habits, relationships, exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, goal planning — and sometimes simply finding a better way to deal with everyday life.
That’s what we explore inside Wellness Within Club.
We also provide wellbeing options for businesses, charities and volunteers, universities and education, societies and other groups.
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Have something we should feature?
If you’ve seen an interesting wellbeing development, research finding, initiative or story that you think deserves a place in a future edition, we’d love to hear from you.
Sources and further reading
Gratitude and health behaviours
Fuschia M. Sirois, British Journal of Health Psychology, published 19 August 2026. Analysis of 24 samples involving 6,967 participants.
Lifestyle change, depression and anxiety
Chunsu Zhu & Zhiwei Lian, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, published 24 August 2026. UK Biobank prospective cohort study involving 18,678 participants.
Volunteering and wellbeing
Volunteering Predicts Mixed Outcomes on Subjective Wellbeing, Behavioral Sciences, published 9 September 2026. Analysis of 7,146 adults in England.
Shared awe and relationships
Matteo Perini and colleagues, The Journal of Positive Psychology, published online 20 July 2026. Two preregistered studies involving 504 partnered adults.
Getting your hands dirty
BBC Future, September 2026, looking at research into contact with soil, plants, environmental microbes and health.
