Feeling nostalgic is good for you – here’s how to harness it ...Middle East

A lot of wellbeing advice involves focusing on being in the present moment, rather than thinking too much about the future or looking back at the past. There is a lot of benefit to this; your ability to affect change lies in what you think, feel and do in this moment.

If we are too focused on the future, we can become anxious, we can wait too long to do what we want to do, or we don’t enjoy what is right in front of us. If we dwell in the past too much, then we can be more susceptible to developing low mood, or ruminating over past “mistakes”. It can also cause us to miss the present moment, or downplay the good things that are happening now.

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However, as with everything in life, there is always a balance between these three aspects – and there are actually some benefits to spending time in the past or the future in our minds. This is very true of one specific characteristic of the past: nostalgia, that affectionate feeling we have for times gone by that are linked to happy experiences.

Research has shown our memories tend to be biased in that we minimise the negative and maximise the positives; and this is how and why nostalgia works so well.

Research has shown that in uncertain times we can become more nostalgic as a coping mechanism to deal with stress. Nostalgia helps us to feel a sense of control and grounded-ness; like we know where we are and what we are doing. It can also help us feel emotionally safe and acts like a comfort blanket when things seem chaotic as it reminds us of happier times.

Our hankering for “better times” from the past can also allow us to make our social connections and relationships stronger by reliving common experiences with others and keeping those bonds strong, thereby reducing loneliness. Nostalgia may also allow us to feel some sense of familiarity and certainty about who we are and how the world is, which can make things seem more manageable.

When we find people, things, experiences or activities that bring back that sense of nostalgia, it is almost like our brains are opening up a closed door and allowing us just for a short space of time to enter back into a safe place, like a childhood bedroom, to sit and rest our nervous systems from the challenges of life. This can allow us to recover, reset and restart, when we are ready to go back into the realities of the present moment, with perhaps more energy, more joy and more hope.

Research has shown that nostalgia can reduce both our cortisol (the stress hormone) levels and feelings of depression. It can also protect us against stress and anxiety. We can trick our memories into being triggered by using nostalgia, and thereby manifest more happy feelings.

So, how can we practically access the powerful psychological wellbeing resource that nostalgia has to offer?

Our senses of smell, sight, touch, taste and hearing can all transport us back to a place or time that our memory has labelled as happy or safe. That might be something as simple as the smell of a perfume or a body cream. Hearing a certain music track that your brain has linked with a happy event or era can flood our brains and emotional systems with good feeling chemicals and memories. Eating a favourite childhood dish or finding our favourite sweets can also bring that sense of comfort.

People

When we spend time with people from our past or recollect shared times, we can relive certain feelings. This can help us bond and strengthens our relationship, not just with them, but also sometimes with ourselves, by remembering a part of ourselves that we may have lost when life got busy. Those people who could always make us laugh, or make us feel safe, are worth spending time with. We can also use nostalgia to help us feel close to people we love who are no longer with us; perhaps it was a certain activity or place you used to spend time in with them, or a habit they used to have that you can adopt. Nostalgia can help us remember them and feel that their legacy continues. Looking at photos, or old texts or letters or cards can bring happy feelings back.

Visual cues from a location or area are also a powerful way of connecting with the past. Visiting the places we used to go to in happier times triggers those memories and pleasant happy feelings, and can make us feel connected not only to those emotions but also to the place itself; it might be a place in nature you used to walk in, a place you used to spend holidays in, or a building that makes you feel peaceful and calm in.

Things

Most of us will have some objects from our childhood that we never want to let go of, and handling, looking at or restoring them can bring back a sense of nostalgia. That might be a favourite teddy bear, a precious toy car or a collection of cards. Many of us are starting to collect old games, toys or vintage clothes that remind us of the good old days and starting to play with or wear them again.

Activities

When was the last time you did something that you used to do from your childhood? Try it again. It might be going to a fun fair, watching a box set of old films, crafting or something else. There was a reason you enjoyed doing those things all that time ago, and nostalgia will only make those benefits even more marked now.

Nostalgia is, to some degree, a little bit of escapism from reality; but as long as it isn’t too dominant in our lives, that escapism can actually be helpful to our present by making our current reality a tiny bit easier to manage.

Hence then, the article about feeling nostalgic is good for you here s how to harness it was published today ( Sunday 07/09/2025 - 09:06 AM ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

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