Ever stood at the edge of an active volcano, or watched a massive pod of orcas cut through the dark surface of an icy ocean? Or simply spent the night under a vast canopy of stars, waiting for a meteor shower to light up the sky?
You must've felt your chest tighten, and your jaw drop — this mental pause is called awe.
For centuries, science ignored it. If you couldn’t weigh it or put it in a test tube, it belonged to poets and philosophers.
But about twenty years ago, UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner decided to actually measure what happens when reality blows our minds.
His research led him to discover that awe physically rewires our brain on the spot.
When you experience something so vast it breaks your mental scale, your brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) — the chatter center responsible for your ego, anxieties, and internal monologue — instantly shuts up.
Experts call this the “small self” phenomenon. Your brain stops obsessing over text messages and bills because it realizes it’s part of a massive and interconnected system.
“That was this big surprise in this research, is how ordinary awe can be. It’s everywhere, right? So it’s the flowers blooming and the moral beauty of people, and some pattern of light on the sidewalk,” said Keltner, who carried out the research.
“I think one of the broader lessons that awe provides for us is, you know, these ideas of separate self. Like, ‘oh, I’m different from other people.’ Which is true, but we’re also synced up with other people. ‘I’m different from nature.’ That’s true. But we’re also part of an ecosystem,” he added.
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The physical perks of being amazed are just as real.
Research shows that awe actively calms your nervous system. It dramatically lowers interleukin-6 (IL-6), a biomarker of inflammation. High levels of IL-6 are linked to depression and heart disease, meaning a heavy dose of wonder is quite literally medicine for your body.
Your heart rate slows, breathing deepens, and the body enters a state of deep repair when you experience awe. At the same time, you might feel chills run down your spine or arms, but in a good way.
Experts tracked this down to a specific nerve pathway. Awe triggers a massive spike in vagal tone, which is the activity of your vagus nerve. This nerve acts as the body’s primary brake button for stress.
A brief look at stunning nature photography or a short walk through a park alters your nervous system for the rest of the day.
“Even small moments of awe and calm accumulate and can be comparable to longer periods of sustained relaxation,” neuroscientist Virginia Sturm at the University of California told National Geographic.
In 2021, her study tracking older adults found that those who took weekly “awe walks” reported a massive boost in daily happiness. Compared to regular walkers, their stress and anxiety levels came down dramatically.
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A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that experiencing awe can actually turn you into a better human.
In the experiments, researchers showed participants different kinds of videos. Some watched intense footage of active volcanoes and natural disasters. Others watched beautiful and slow-motion close-ups of colored water drops bouncing and splashing.
Even though the videos were totally different, the result was the exact same. After watching them, people became measurably kinder, more empathetic, and much more willing to help out a complete stranger.
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Scientists believe you don’t need to hike Patagonia to unlock these feelings.
While some people are just naturally wired to feel wonder more deeply, anyone can train themselves to find it. It is entirely possible to build daily micro-habits that trigger awe right where you are.
Even better, you don’t have to go at it alone — awe actually peaks when we share it.
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A 2019 study at the University of Amsterdam put people through fMRI brain scanners and had them watch simple videos of awe-inspiring nature.
Even on a flat digital screen, watching footage of the vast cosmos or deep oceans caused the brain’s ego-driven Default Mode Network to instantly drop its activity.
“When people experience awe, they really want to share that experience with other people, suggesting that it has this particularly viral component to it,” said Paul Piff, an assistant professor of psychology and social behavior at UC Irvine.
