13 Facts About Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.

Nostalgia is associated with a yearning for the past, its personalities, possibilities, and events, especially the "good ol' days" or a "warm childhood".

Nostalgia has been found to have important psychological functions, such as to improve mood, increase social connectedness, enhance positive self-regard, and provide existential meaning.

Nostalgia can be connected to more focus on coping strategies and implementing them, thus increasing support in challenging times.

Nostalgia sometimes involves memories of people one was close to, and thus it can increase one's sense of social support and connections.

Nostalgia is triggered specifically by feelings of loneliness, but counteracts such feelings with reflections of close relationships.

Nostalgia serves as a coping mechanism and helps people to feel better about themselves.

Nostalgia helps increase one's self-esteem and meaning in life by buffering threats to well-being and by initiating a desire to deal with problems or stress.

Nostalgia makes people more willing to engage in growth-oriented behaviors and encourages them to view themselves as growth-oriented people.

Nostalgia was still diagnosed among soldiers as late as the American Civil War.

Nostalgia was still being recognized in both the First and Second World Wars, especially by the American armed forces.

Nostalgia is triggered by something reminding an individual of an event or item from their past.

Nostalgia has been frequently studied as a tool of rhetoric and persuasion.