Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, or because I sense stress in the air virtually everywhere I go, but I find the power of and research on nostalgia to be fascinating. When we look back in time, and pull bits of the past into the present, can we see the future in a more positive light? … Oh how I long for the “dumb” phone of my 20s.

Arthur Brooks, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and host of the “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast, recently wrote that nostalgia is “one of the strangest and most overpowering feelings that humans possess.”

He cited a group of psychologists who defined nostalgia as “a self-conscious, bittersweet but predominantly positive and fundamentally social emotion.”

Clay Routledge, a leading expert in existential psychology and professor at North Dakota State University, has conducted dozens of studies on nostalgia, concluding that it’s best described as “a self-regulatory existential resource that people naturally and frequently use to navigate stress and uncertainty and find the motivation needed to move forward with purpose and focus.”

Writing in the Harvard Business Review in 2021 Routledge made the case that nostalgia can help build strong communities. “Social bonds are a central feature of nostalgia. Most nostalgic memories involve other people, and when individuals reflect on these memories, they feel more socially connected and supported.” This can promote strong relationships and teams within business, for example.

Brooks also noted that psychologists writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2006 found that “provoking nostalgia in experiments strengthened people’s social bonds, boosted their positive feelings about themselves, and improved their mood.”

For many people, memory lane may have a distinct smell or taste. “Often, nostalgia involves sensory stimuli,” Brooks noted. Nostalgia evoked by scent can be especially effective at improving happiness, self-esteem, optimism, and social connectedness, according to a 2015 study published in Memory.

Of course brands know they can leverage the high notes of nostalgia in marketing. The 80s are everywhere today. In the nutritional products industry, flavor in formulation can trigger consumer sentiment as well. Look at the licensing deals the sports nutrition brand Ghost has struck to offer products featuring flavors like Warheads, Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, and Cinnabon. Even now I can smell the mall of my childhood …

The past isn’t all candy and Care Bears of course. But can we reflect on our faults to bring forward positive change? It was only about 100 years ago that women earned the right to vote in the U.S. We still have a long way to go toward gender and racial equity.

Personally, I’m nostalgic for simplicity. And I believe that empowering people to reach their full potential is a basic component of a healthy society. I encourage our readers to learn more about Women In Nutraceuticals (WIN) and support efforts to build more diverse communities.