The science of awe reveals new benefits.
Today, Friday, May 8, 2026, Sir David Attenborough turns 100 years old. Think about that for a moment. One hundred years on this planet, and the man is still working. Still learning. Still telling us things that make our jaws drop. He has spent the better part of a century pointing a camera at the natural world and saying, in that unmistakable voice, look at this. And we always did.
There is a word for what Attenborough has felt every single day of that long career. It is awe. And as it turns out, science now has very good reasons to think that awe is not just a nice feeling. It may be one of the most powerful forces keeping us healthy, sharp, and alive.
What Is Awe, Exactly?
Awe is the feeling you get when something is so big, so beautiful, or so far beyond what you expected that your brain has to stop and recalibrate. It can be triggered by a thunderstorm rolling in across a flat horizon. By a piece of music that grabs your chest and won’t let go. By the ocean at night. By a newborn baby. By the sight of a gorilla gently reaching out to touch a researcher in the African jungle.
Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has spent decades studying this emotion. He describes awe as being triggered by awareness of something vastly larger than yourself that you cannot immediately understand. It stops your usual mental chatter cold. For a moment, you aren’t thinking about your to-do list or your mortgage. You are simply present.
What Awe Does to Your Body
Here is where it gets really interesting. Awe is not just a head trip. It changes what is happening inside your body right now.
Research published in the journal Emotion found that people who scored higher on experiencing awe had lower levels of interleukin-6, a marker of inflammation in the blood. Too much inflammation is linked to heart disease, depression, diabetes, and a long list of other conditions that cut lives short. Awe appears to cool that fire.
A 2023 diary study tracking 269 adults for 22 days found that on days when people experienced more awe, they reported 20 percent less stress, fewer physical complaints, and greater overall well-being. Twenty percent less stress. From simply pausing to notice something amazing. That is not a small number.
Neuroscientist Virginia Sturm at the University of California, San Francisco, explains that awe moves the body out of its fight-or-flight state and into what is called the rest-and-digest state. That shift is enormously good for you. It lowers your heart rate. It steadies your breathing. It gives your nervous system a chance to recover from the constant low-level stress most of us carry around like a backpack full of rocks.
Awe also reduces activity in the brain’s Default Mode Network. This is the part of your brain that runs the ongoing mental chatter about yourself, your worries, and your regrets. When awe quiets this network, you feel calmer, more connected to the world around you, and more open to other people.
Awe Walks: The Easiest Prescription Ever Written
A landmark study from UCSF and the Global Brain Health Institute asked older adults to take weekly 15-minute “awe walks” for just eight weeks. These weren’t hikes up a mountain. They were simple neighborhood walks, with one instruction: approach the walk with fresh eyes and notice what is wonderful. At the end of eight weeks, those who took the awe walks reported significantly more positive emotions and less daily distress than those who simply walked for exercise.
“This suggests promoting the experience of awe could be an extremely low-cost tool for improving the emotional health of older adults through a simple shift in mindset,” said neuroscientist Virginia Sturm. Low cost. Simple. Powerful. That is a combination worth paying attention to.
Curiosity: The Engine Under Awe’s Hood
Awe doesn’t happen without curiosity. You have to look up. You have to wonder. You have to ask what that bird is, what that star is, why the sky turns those colors at sunset. Curiosity is the engine that drives awe, and researchers are finding that it may be one of the most important things you can hold onto as you get older.
A five-year study of more than 1,000 older adults found that those with higher levels of curiosity at the start of the study had a significantly greater survival rate over the following five years, even after researchers accounted for other health factors. Curiosity didn’t just predict better health. It predicted whether people were still alive.
Research from UCLA confirms that older adults who maintain curiosity and a genuine desire to keep learning may actually offset or even reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Conversely, those who show reduced curiosity and disinterest in the world around them are at higher risk for dementia. The brain, it turns out, rewards the people who keep asking questions.
The Man Who Proves the Point
David Attenborough was born on May 8, 1926, when life expectancy in the United Kingdom was around 58 years. He has outlived that original expectation by more than four decades. He has outlived his wife, most of his friends, and practically every broadcaster from his generation. And he has done it while remaining curious, engaged, and endlessly awed by the world.
He describes his long career not as work but as a kind of sustained wonder. Every new creature, every new habitat, every new fact about this planet has been another reason to keep going. “I’ve had the most extraordinary life,” he said at 93. The year he turned 99, he released a new documentary about the oceans. At 99. Still learning. Still sharing. Still in awe.
While researchers are careful to note that genetics play a role in longevity, the evidence also supports the idea that Attenborough’s active engagement with the world, his persistent passion for the natural world, and his lifelong habit of seeking out the astonishing may have contributed to his remarkable health and longevity. Purpose, curiosity, and awe are not just good for your soul. They appear to be good for your body.
You Do Not Need to Travel to Find Awe
One of the biggest myths about awe is that you need to stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon to feel it. You don’t. Research consistently shows that awe is available in everyday moments if you train yourself to look for it.
It can arrive when you watch birds build a nest outside your window. When you read about how a tree communicates through its roots. When you look at a photo of a galaxy taken by a space telescope. When you let yourself really listen to a piece of music instead of having it play in the background. When you stop and watch children figure out how something works, their faces completely lit up with the effort of understanding.
The neuroscience team at Nuvance Health has even explored how awe-inducing virtual reality experiences can help patients recover from brain surgery, with more than 85 percent of participants reporting reduced anxiety. The healing power of wonder is being taken seriously in medical settings.
Emerging research also suggests that regular awe experiences may influence epigenetic expression, potentially slowing the biological processes of aging at the cellular level. The science is still developing, but the direction is clear. Wonder is not a luxury. It is medicine.
How to Bring More Awe Into Your Days
Here are simple places to start:
- Go outside and look up. Literally. Most of us keep our eyes at ground level. The sky, the clouds, the stars at night, and the way light changes through the day. That is all free, and it is all extraordinary.
2. Watch a nature documentary. David Attenborough has made you an embarrassingly rich library to choose from. Let yourself feel small in the best possible way.
3. Ask a question you don’t know the answer to and then actually look it up. Curiosity is a habit you can rebuild if you have lost it. Start with something that actually interests you and follow the thread.
4. Take a slow walk with fresh eyes. You don’t need a special trail. You need a willingness to notice things as if you have never seen them before.
5. Talk to someone who is passionate about something you know nothing about. Genuine enthusiasm is contagious. Other people’s awe can spark your own.
A Final Thought
Happy 100th birthday, Sir David. Thank you for spending a century reminding the rest of us to look at this world with wide-open eyes. You’re living proof that curiosity, wonder, and a deep sense of awe are not just good for the spirit. They just might add decades to your life.
The world is astonishing. You are allowed to be astonished by it. In fact, your health may depend on it.