One of the things about anxiety in the body is how it can manifest as a sense of isolation and coldness. These are messages from the body that would innately compel us to seek warmth and companionship. Unfortunately, in living life, the innate process can get mucked up some and our systems become primed to stick with the unpleasant sensation. There’s a pathway, a habit, in the neural connections that repeats. To retrain this habit, we have to purposefully move toward warmth and connection, even as it seems unavailable.
from Singin’ In the Rain
One of the ways we can bring ourselves back to a sense of warmth and companionship is through our favorite songs and movies or shows. An essay from 2014 in The Atlantic by Derek Thompson explores why people will continue to enjoy media they’ve experienced multiple times. A study mentioned in the article showed that colder temperatures increased the need to seek nostalgic experiences and that participants reported feeling more physiological warmth and psychological comfort when exposed to nostalgia-inducing music.
“Nostalgia is triggered by thermoregulatory discomfort: nostalgia was stronger on colder (vs. warmer) days and in a cold (vs. neutral or warm) room. In turn, nostalgia increases physical warmth: music-evoked nostalgia predicted the physical sensation of warmth, and recalling a nostalgic (vs. ordinary autobiographical) event made a cold room feel warmer. ” Heartwarming memories: Nostalgia maintains physiological comfort
If you’re interested in reading the study, send me a message and I can send you the research article. Or you can sign-up at Academia.edu where you can find it by searching the title.
Nostalgic films and shows for me include the following:
Singing in the Rain
The Muppet Show
Monty Python
Die Hard
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie and TV show)
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