The past can be painful, but nostalgia is often a welcome relief. Once in a while, everyone likes to remember the good old days. Having a good time sure does make us happy, lifts our moods, and sometimes can even give us a jolt of energy.
Can nostalgia have real, physiological benefits? Researchers say yes. The study was carried out by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Volunteers underwent a heat stimulus as part of the study. Occasionally, the heat stimulus could be painful. However, both were necessary. Children were shown images from their childhoods that evoked memories. When a heat stimulus was applied, they were asked to rate how painful it was.
The researchers observed that a strong sense of nostalgia provided some sort of pain relief to the volunteers. When the level of pain within the ranges determined for the study was low, this became especially evident. The relaxation brought about by nostalgia had a limited effect, however, when pain intensity was high.
Researchers believe that this occurred because the pain of higher intensity took up more cognitive resources in the mind. ‘The more nostalgic participants felt, the less pain they perceived,’ said the research team in its paper as reported by ScienceAlert.
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