he awe people feel when they connect with nature, art, and spirituality is linked to lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines—proteins that tell the immune system to work harder.

“Our findings demonstrate that positive emotions are associated with the markers of good health,” says Jennifer Stellar, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study, which she conducted while at the University of California, Berkeley.

While cytokines are necessary for herding cells to the body’s battlegrounds to fight infection, disease, and trauma, sustained high levels of cytokines are associated with poorer health and such disorders as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and even Alzheimer’s disease and clinical depression.

It has long been established that a healthy diet and lots of sleep and exercise bolster the body’s defenses against physical and mental illnesses. But the new study, whose findings were just published in the journal Emotion, is one of the first to look at the role of positive emotions in that arsenal.

“That awe, wonder, and beauty promote healthier levels of cytokines suggests that the things we do to experience these emotions—a walk in nature, losing oneself in music, beholding art—has a direct influence upon health and life expectancy,” says UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, a coauthor of the study.

A Desire To Explore

In two separate experiments, more than 200 young adults reported on a given day the extent to which they had experienced such positive emotions as amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, joy, love, and pride.

Samples of gum and cheek tissue taken that same day showed that those who experienced more of these positive emotions, especially awe, wonder, and amazement, had the lowest levels of the cytokine, Interleukin 6, a marker of inflammation.

In addition to autoimmune diseases, elevated cytokines have been tied to depression. One recent study found that depressed patients had higher levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine known as TNF-alpha than their non-depressed counterparts.

It is believed that by signaling the brain to produce inflammatory molecules, cytokines can block key hormones and neurotransmitters—such as serotonin and dopamine—that control moods, appetite, sleep, and memory.

In answer to why awe would be a potent predictor of reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines, this latest study posits that “awe is associated with curiosity and a desire to explore, suggesting antithetical behavioral responses to those found during inflammation, where individuals typically withdraw from others in their environment,” Stellar says.

As for which came first—the low cytokines or the positive feelings—Stellar says she can’t say for sure: “It is possible that having lower cytokines makes people feel more positive emotions, or that the relationship is bidirectional,” Stellar says.

Source: UC Berkeley

About the Authors

Jennifer Stellar is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study, which she conducted while at the University of California, Berkeley. UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner is a coauthor of the study. In addition to Stellar and Keltner, other coauthors and researchers involved in the study are Neha John-Henderson at the University of Pittsburgh and Craig Anderson, Amie Gordon, and Galen McNeil at UC Berkeley.

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