Old school

The power of nostalgia: What science tells us about longing for the past

   “Nostalgia is a resource that people use to move forward.”
   campers in 1930

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   swimming, water balloon fights, and drinking orange soda. The feeling
   isn’t just one of happy recollection: It’s carried by a strong current
   of wistful longing for a time in the past. It’s nostalgia.

   Nostalgia is powerful: It gets political leaders elected, it’s at the
   core of billions of dollars of advertising, and was once considered a
   medical disease. But what is nostalgia and what makes it so powerful?
   What’s happening in our brains when we’re feeling it and how does it
   influence our lives?

   Researchers are finding that nostalgia can be an enormously beneficial,
   and potentially life-saving emotion. Clay Routledge, a psychological
   scientist, has spent much of his career studying what gives our lives
   meaning and has found that nostalgia plays an important role.

   “Nostalgia is one of the self-regulatory tools we use to remind
   ourselves that we matter,” he tells Inverse.

What is nostalgia?

   “The simplest definition of nostalgia is people’s reflection on their
   cherished memories,” Routledge explains. “That varies from person to
   person, obviously, but there are some commonalities.”
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   a decade ago.

What nostalgia does to the brain

   A 2016 study used fMRI imaging to monitor participants’ brain activity
   when they were exposed to nostalgia-inducing stimuli. When nostalgia
   was triggered, participants’ brains showed activity in two powerful
   neural networks: the areas of the brain associated with memory and the
--

   The more those systems “worked cooperatively,” the researchers found,
   the more nostalgia people felt.
   camping car
   “Nostalgia is one of the self-regulatory tools we use to remind
   ourselves that we matter.”Shutterstock

   A very specific kind of memory is being activated during nostalgia,
   Routledge says. “Most of the time when you’re nostalgic, it’s
   autobiographical; you’re accessing what we call ‘self-relevant
--
   recollection of the smell is important for survival.

Is nostalgia a positive or negative emotion?

   In the earliest days of nostalgia study, Routledge says, “it was seen
   as simply as homesickness.”

   This is where nostalgia gets its name: the word was coined by a Swiss
   medical student, Johannes Hofer, in his 1688 dissertation. In
   describing the anxieties of soldiers fighting away from home, he
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   But watch someone find an old-school Gameboy or the opening credits of
   their favorite childhood TV show, and you’ll likely find them smiling.
   While homesickness is pure ache, nostalgia is a unique mix of ache and
   pleasure.

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   positivity.”

   That positivity is what can make nostalgia such a useful emotion.

Nostalgia as motivation and meaning

   Routledge and his nostalgia-studying colleagues have found that
   nostalgia is actually used to help self-regulate stress signals in the
   brain. Routledge speculates likely what those soldiers were doing when
   Hofer observed them and coined the term.
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   stress.”

   His own research supports this theory. “We’ve seen that nostalgia seems
   to bring online these motivational, or self-regulatory processes in the
   brain that help us down-regulate or mitigate psychological threats,”
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   Boardwalk in 1944.Getty/Nextrecord Archives

   Research suggests the social aspect of nostalgia motivates us to engage
   in “prosocial” behavior. Nostalgia makes us realize the importance of
   relationships and, in turn, motivates us to connect with friends and
   pursue romantic relationships.
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   It’s also strongly associated with optimism and resiliency.

   “Nostalgia is a resource that people use to move forward,” Routledge
   says.

   We saw all of these aspects of nostalgia play out during the pandemic.
   You probably found yourself watching old movies, or listening to old
   music. When we were in lockdown, we all felt nostalgic for the “before