Study: Nostalgia Helps Keep People Warm

2012-12-07 39

A recent study finds that nostalgia can keep people warm.

Happy memories can actually help keep people warm.

A new study by the Sun Yat-Sen University in China working with the Tilburg University in the Netherlands put groups of people into three rooms at temperatures of 20, 24, and 28 degrees Celsius, and recorded how much nostalgia they experienced.

People in the colder rooms both had more nostalgic thoughts and guessed the room temperature to be higher than it really was, prompting researchers to believe that cold temperatures trigger the thoughts as an ‘evolutionary defense mechanism’ and in turn made them feel warmer.

Subjects could also hold their hands in ice cold water for longer periods of time when scientists instructed them to recall happy memories.

Co-author of the study and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton, Doctor Tim Wildschut said “Our study has shown that nostalgia serves a homeostatic function, allowing the mental simulation of previously enjoyed states, including states of bodily comfort; in this case making us feel warmer or increasing our tolerance of cold.”

The same researchers have conducted other studies on nostalgia, or having fond memories of past events, and found that these kinds of thoughts can decrease feelings of loneliness and make people more resilient in stressful situations.

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