Is nostalgia good or bad for us?

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

This podcast is supported by Anthropic, the public benefit corporation behind Claude.

Everyone's got a hard question about AI, your job, your kids, where it's going. Anthropic was built to surface those questions and share what it finds along the way, because there's hope in hard questions. Ask yours at claude.ai/spotify, and keep thinking. That's claude.ai/spotify.

SPEAKER_2 (0:30)

I get so many headaches every month.

SPEAKER_3 (0:32)

It could be chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more.

SPEAKER_2 (0:37)

Botox, autobotulinum toxin A, prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those who have 14 or fewer headache days a month. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, and muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eton syndrome, and medications including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.

SPEAKER_3 (1:22)

Why wait? Ask your doctor. Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more.

SPEAKER_4 (1:30)

Every holiday shopper's got a list, but Ross Shoppers, you've got a mission. Like a gift run that turns into a disco snow globe, throw pillows, and PJs for the whole family, dog included. At Ross, holiday magic isn't about spending more, it's about giving more for less. Ross, work your magic.

SPEAKER_5 (1:46)

This episode is brought to you by Rumchata, a delicious creamy blend of horchata with rum. It's best enjoyed over ice or in your coffee. Rumchata, delivering vacation vibes, any way or anywhere you drink it. Find out more at rumchata.com. Drink responsibly, Caribbean rum with real dairy cream, natural and artificial flavours, alcohol, 13.75% by volume, 27.5 proof. Copyright 2025, Agave Loco Brands, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved.

Bababam (2:20)

Is nostalgia good or bad for us?

Thanks for asking.

Have you ever noticed how revisiting films from your childhood, listening to old tunes, or flipping through cherished books can bring on a certain sense of solace? The reality is your past is intricately woven into your present. It shapes who you are and influences the person you go on to become. With its comforting embrace of fond memories, nostalgia seems to breathe new life into past moments, often giving us a boost when we really need it. What actually happens in our brains when we get nostalgic then? Well, back in 2015, researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University decided to peek into this phenomenon using functional MRI scans. Their findings revealed that viewing images associated with the past triggers activity in our memory and reward circuits, possibly linked to the release of pleasure hormone dopamine.

And surprisingly, nostalgia can even act as a natural painkiller. That's according to a study conducted by psychologists and neuroscientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, the findings of which were published in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2022 The study found that reminiscing about the past may help alleviate certain everyday forms of pain. Like a headache, participants were shown images while being exposed to varying levels of pain through the use of a small heat generator on their forearm. Those who were shown childhood images felt less pain than the control group who saw modern day images which didn't lead to any feelings of nostalgia. That suggests that nostalgia triggers certain mechanisms which dull our perception of pain. Is nostalgia always good for us then? medicalnewstoday.com says that nostalgia can also bring on negative emotions at times. While nostalgic depression is not an officially recognised mental health condition, the term is used to describe the elements of sadness people feel when missing parts of their past. For example, we might perceive our past as having been happier than our present is. What's intriguing is that while nostalgic memories are soothing, they tend to be rose-tinted and thus aren't always accurate representations of the past. Christine Batcho is a psychology professor at Le Moyne College in the United States. Talking to National Geographic for a feature on nostalgia in July 2023, she explained that having memories that are better than the actual events serves an evolutionary purpose. Dwelling excessively on the past can actually turn the experience sour and hinder our ability to live in the present. I'm sure at some point you've heard someone being told to stop living in the past, or maybe someone's even said that to you. That suggestion really means focusing more on creating new memories rather than clinging so tightly to past ones. The negative effects of nostalgic depression can include self-deprecation, intense anxiety, a disdain for life, changes in appetite or weight, social withdrawal, sleep disturbances, a loss of motivation and dark thoughts. Medical News Today recommends trying to remember a more realistic view of the past to keep things in perspective, practising mindfulness and building human relationships in order to combat nostalgic depression. There you have it.