Stay warm & kind with nostalgia

Samir Malhotra

Samir Malhotra

THE dictionary defines nostalgia as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in one’s past. Nostalgia is different from just remembering some autobiographical details of our past. Studies show that everyone experiences nostalgia about once in two days. Memories of birthdays and wedding anniversary, school-college days, parents and grandparents, vacation etc., are often pleasant, as if seen through rose-coloured glasses. It is believed that those who are more prone to nostalgia possess greater empathy. It also helps fight winter blues.

What possible role could nostalgia play in evolutionary terms? Scientists are not sure, but it may relate to the maintenance of homeostasis and interpersonal affiliation, especially early in childhood as it ‘counteracts aversive psychological states and maintains psychological equanimity’.

Research shows that both physical and psychological distress can make one nostalgic. Physical discomfort also triggers nostalgia: cold weather is a strong stimulus. In an interesting study, undergraduate volunteers were asked to think about a nostalgic event or an ordinary autobiographical event, and their dominant hands were immersed in water at a temperature of 4°C. Nostalgic participants were able to keep their hands immersed longer and felt less discomfort. In another experiment, the volunteers were seated in a room maintained at a relatively cold temperature of 16°C. Nostalgic participants perceived the room to be warmer. Exposure to cold temperatures led to stronger feelings of nostalgia, leading to a kind of a fascinating feedback loop.

In a study published in the Journal of Personality, researchers tested individuals as young as eight and as old as up to 90 for the correlation between their proneness to nostalgia and empathy and prosocial behaviour. Across all age groups, nostalgia proneness was positively correlated with empathy, and individuals prone to nostalgia were more likely to engage in such behaviour.

Thus, this winter the warmth that you need may come from an unexpected source, if you are fondly reminiscing the flood of cyclists on the roads in the 1970s, when bicycles could carry three boys, when parks were not parking lots, where children could play gilli-danda without fear of breaking a car window, when kids could fearlessly run after drifting kites, when cauliflower wasn’t spotless-white but had taste, when apples did not shine but were delicious, when water-cooled tapka mangoes were eaten from bucket, when trees were not osteoporotic to break at low wind speeds, when Kasauli hills were visible, when one had to go to Shimla to get a scooter without waiting, and when, as someone pointed out, TVs were fat and humans slim.

As my wife nostalgised about all this on a cold night, the compassionate urge she had to provide a homeless man with a blanket was natural, completing the sequence — winter, nostalgia, warmth, empathy.