How feelings of awe reduce daily stress
Scientific litsketch on boosting mental health
Can goosebumps give us healing? Can feeling so amazed and inspired improve our mental health?
Research shows that the experience of awe when we come across something so grand and vast that transcends us reduces our daily stress levels and increases our happiness (Bai et al., 2021). We feel awe when we are in the presence of something amazing, breathtaking, fascinating or impressive.
In an experiment, people were divided into three groups. Group One watched aerial images of avalanches, waterfalls, mountains, oceans and forests to make them feel awe. Group Two watched funny animal interactions. Group Three watched a news interview. After watching, all participants were asked to describe one most stressful hassle they experienced in the past one month, and rate how stressful that was.
The results showed that Group One that watched the awe inspiring video of the natural world reported experiencing the least amount of stress. The research also found that awe makes people feel like they are in the presence of something grand while feeling relatively small and insignificant, which helped reduce stress and increased life satisfaction or happiness.
When we feel awe in the presence of something extraordinary, majestic or glorious, we feel less stress and more happy. Be awe-inspired everyday and experience greater humility, less stress and more happiness in your daily life!
Bai, Yang, Joseph Ocampo, Gening Jin, Serena Chen, Veronica Benet-Martinez, Maria Monroy, Craig Anderson, and Dacher Keltner. "Awe, daily stress, and elevated life satisfaction." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 120, no. 4 (2021): 837.