Awe has a way of stopping us in our tracks. It can creep in quietly—the hush of deer crossing a backyard—or arrive all at once, like a swell of music that makes your chest tighten or the sudden vastness of a star-streaked sky.
“Awe is my reminder that beneath the ordinary lies the infinite,” says Hari Srinivasan, a post-doctoral student in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University.
These moments might feel fleeting, but scientists say they can leave lasting imprints on the body and mind. A 2023 Harvard study found that just 15 minutes in nature can improve mental health, underscoring how quickly awe can soothe stress and alter our physiology. Scientists are now tracing how this elusive emotion moves through the nervous system and why it feels so different from anything else we experience.
The science of awe
Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley and author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, has spent decades studying how awe reshapes the mind.
Recent research shows that awe doesn’t just change how we feel; it changes how our bodies work. Neuroscientist Virginia Sturm at the University of California, San Francisco, explains that the emotion moves the body out of “fight-or-flight” and into the calmer “rest-and-digest” state. Awe is associated with higher vagal tone—a marker of parasympathetic nervous system engagement—suggesting that it may calm the body through pathways like the vagus nerve.
(This is how your body reacts to extreme stress.)
Keltner frames awe as more than stress relief: it nudges us into what psychologist Shelley Taylor calls “tend-and-befriend,” a mode where attention turns outward toward kindness, belonging, and purpose.
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The health benefits are measurable. Some studies have suggested awe may lower cortisol and reduce inflammation. A 2015 study of 94 undergraduates found that students who reported more frequent awe showed significantly lower circulating levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a biomarker of inflammation. Awe was the strongest predictor among positive emotions, even after controlling for health and personality factors.
Brain scans reveal a similar story in the mind. In 2019, researchers at the University of Amsterdam asked 32 healthy adults to watch awe-inspiring, positive, and neutral videos while inside an fMRI machine. During the awe clips, activity in the brain’s default mode network (the system tied to self-focused thought) dropped noticeably compared with neutral clips. That quieting helps explain why awe feels self-transcendent, pulling attention away from inward rumination and toward a broader perspective.
(Discover the psychological effects of awe during an eclipse.)
Other brain regions tell part of the story, too. In one study of 62 young adults, researchers compared images that evoked positive awe (like sunsets or auroras) with those that evoked negative awe (such as tornadoes or tsunamis). Both inspired wonder, but the negative images also spiked fear. Participants most sensitive to negative awe showed reduced gray matter volume in the insula, a region that links bodily sensations with emotion.
Nature offers a different effect. In 2022, researchers found that after a one-hour forest walk, 63 adults showed lower amygdala activity—the brain’s alarm center—during stress tasks than those who walked in a city.
Furthermore, a 2023 diary study tracking 269 adults for 22 days found that on days when people experienced more awe, they reported 20 percent less stress, fewer physical complaints, and greater well-being. A second study of 145 healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic found the same pattern.
Even our sense of time bends under awe. In a 2012 Psychological Science study, participants who experienced awe felt time expand, which left them less impatient, more generous, and more satisfied with life.
The daily dose of awe cheat sheet
Awe may seem like something reserved for once-in-a-lifetime moments, but researchers say it’s surprisingly easy to spark in everyday life. While some people are naturally more “awe-prone,” “we can all create practices that promote awe in everyday life,” says Sturm.
And it doesn’t have to be a solo experience. Awe tends to bloom in groups—what social psychologist Émile Durkheim calls “collective effervescence”—as voices rise together in song, strangers erupt in cheer at a stadium, or a crowd falls into step on a city sidewalk.
Here are a few simple, research-backed ways to build it into daily life:
Take a 15-minute “awe walk.” Slowing down to notice textures, colors, and patterns in nature can lift mood and ease stress. “Even small moments of awe and calm accumulate and can be comparable to longer periods of sustained relaxation,” says Sturm. In her 2021 trial of 60 older adults, participants who took weekly “awe walks” focusing on their surroundings reported greater boosts in positive emotions and larger drops in distress than a control group.
(These eight underrated state parks deliver awe without the crowds.)
Pause for a sky break. Even a few minutes of looking up—clouds shifting, stars appearing, light fading—can reset one’s perspective. In Keltner’s research, brief moments of visual awe have been shown to quiet self-focus and increase feelings of connection. In one experiment, people who gazed at something vast, like tall eucalyptus trees, were more likely to help others afterward than those who looked at ordinary buildings.
Listen to awe-eliciting music. Music that gives you goosebumps can lift your mood, spark inspiration, and deepen your sense of purpose. In a study of 52 young adults, those who listened to powerful, awe-inducing music rather than silence reported improved emotions, greater inspiration, and a stronger desire to help others and find meaning in life.
(Listening to birds sing really does soothe your brain. Here’s why.)
Create micro-rituals. Srinivasan suggests building tiny awe into your day: admire the colors of your meal before eating, step outside to find a single star, or read a poem slowly. “Awe isn’t just decoration,” he explains, “it’s the everyday scaffolding of meaning. Miss those moments, and you miss life’s connective tissue.”
Reflect on moral beauty. Think about people whose kindness or courage has shaped your life. Keltner notes that awe often arises from acts of generosity or humility, reminding us of humanity at its best.