The surprising science of awe
If you want to quiet the mental chatter in your mind, and even feel like you have more time in your day, here’s my suggestion.
Look up.
Research suggests that experiences of awe – moments when we encounter something vast or beautiful – can calm the brain systems associated with rumination and self-focused thinking.
Psychologists define awe as the feeling we get when something is so vast or remarkable that it changes how we see the world. In that moment, it shifts our attention away from ourselves and makes us feel we’re connected to something bigger.
You may be familiar with the experience. Examples include:
• gazing at a star-filled sky
• standing in front of mountains
• watching the ocean
• hearing powerful music
• witnessing extraordinary kindness
In these moments something interesting often happens:
Our worries shrink.
Psychologists call this the “small self effect.”
Not small in the sense that you feel small, insignificant, and unimportant, but that when we experience awe, attention shifts away from constant self-focused, self-interested, thinking toward the wider world.
We feel more connected. And we become kinder.
Brain imaging research even suggests that awe may reduce activity in networks associated with rumination and internal chatter.
And fascinatingly, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that people who frequently experience awe tend to have lower levels of inflammatory markers linked to chronic stress.
In other words, moments of wonder may be good for both the mind and the body.
Awe reduces symptoms of depression
Recent studies also show that awe-practice (where you seek out awe experiences in daily life) positively impacts mental health.
In a Randomised Controlled Trial published in 2025, researchers at Yale and the University of California at Davis showed that awe improved the psychological health of people living with long COVID.
Volunteers were encouraged to find awe regularly in daily life and it reduced stress, reduced depressive symptoms, and led to an overall improvement in psychological wellbeing.
Awe expands our perception of time
Studies even show that people who experience awe feel they have more time available and they become less impatient.
It’s because space, beauty, and time and wrapped up together in our experiences. When we experience something vast – whether physically or vast in beauty, even if it’s a beautiful moment – that stretching space or beauty also stretches our experience of time.
Something Beautiful
And, finally, awe doesn’t always have to come from something in the natural world – in case you wondered.
Awe frequently comes from a moment that feels beautiful, experiencing or witnessing an act of kindness or caring, or something (or someone) you appreciate or value.
Ultimately, whatever its source, awe reminds us that the world is bigger than our worries.
Try this
This practice is based on the study where awe reduced depressive symptoms in people suffering with long Covid.
Take a 60-second awe break today.
Look for something vast or beautiful, or something you appreciate or truly value. E.g.,
-gazing at the sky and the expanse of stars
-the Moon
-mountains
-a huge tree or something else in nature
-a sweeping landscape
-the blue vastness of the ocean
-or anything that feels vast, expansive
-a moment that feels beautiful
-something you appreciate or value
Slow down. Pause and notice it. Give it your full and undivided attention.
Let yourself feel the scale of it – in size or beauty.
Breathe slowly. Amplify the sensations you are experiencing.
Because sometimes the fastest way to quiet the mind… is to remember how vast and beautiful the world really is.
Want to explore more?
I always make a YouTube video based on these Better You, Backed by Science emails.
If you’d like to view this one, where I dive a little deeper into the science of awe and how it affects wellbeing, here’s the direct link.
And here’s a link to my entire Better You, Backed by Science playlist, with a video on every single previous email going back to the middle of last year.
Science Box – references
Awe reduces brain activity in rumination networks. Link.
The ‘small self’ and how awe makes us kinder. Link.
Awe and markers of inflammation. Link.
Awe expands perception of time. Link and Link.
Awe reduces depressive symptoms and boosts wellbeing. Link.
More
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