It’s 12 am on a Tuesday night and you can’t sleep. You start channel surfing and land on the Disney Channel. You eyes become wide open when you see the channel is showing “Hannah Montana” a popular sitcom from 2007-2013. Most college students who grew up with this show feel a memory from a distant past. Here are some interesting facts about nostalgia.
1. Nostalgia was considered to be a cerebral disease
Soldiers had felt an extreme homesickness when they were sent off to war. Swiss physician Johannes Hofer diagnosed them with nostalgia. Since in the 17th century, yearning for the past was considered a mental disorder.
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2. Nostalgia is not an emotional state
Nostalgia is not an emotional state, but “a longing for a sanitized impression of the past,” according to Alan R. Hirsh in “Nostalgia: a Neuropsychiatric Understanding.” Instead of seeing the past for what it truly was, our brains recall it as a collection of various memories, filtering negative memories out to integrate the positive ones which creates nostalgia.
For example, remembering “The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody” playing on Disney Channel when you were lying on the couch makes you forget that you missed a lot of school because you had the flu.
3. The smell of baked goods were found to be the greatest smell stimuli of nostalgia
Odor has a strong input into the amygdala, which process emotions. The type of memories that it evokes are usually positive and more powerful. The amygdala causes intense emotions and motivation. When odors are being directed into this portion of the brain, one is more likely to be overcome with intense feelings.
4. Nostalgia in other languages
In Japan, the common phrase “Natsukashii” has a similar translation to being nostalgic. It’s a nostalgia for the past, sometimes with implications of nostalgia for a past that never was. In European Portuguese, there is the word “Saudade” which means the recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again.
5. Spotify recently released a two-hour playlist called “Time Capsule” that guesses what you listened to in your teenage years
Get some headphones and walk down memory lane with this playlist from Spotify. If you need something to cheer you up. This is a great way to catch up on some old favorites!