# Experiencing awe in daily life is linked to lower loneliness

## TL;DR

Experiencing awe in daily life helps reduce loneliness among healthcare workers, which could improve their mental and physical health.

## Contribution

This study is the first to show that daily awe reduces loneliness in healthcare workers, even after accounting for other positive emotions.

## Key findings

- Healthcare workers who experienced more awe reported less loneliness on the same day.
- The link between awe and reduced loneliness remained significant after controlling for other positive emotions.
- Awe's effect on loneliness was explained by a heightened sense of connectedness.

## Abstract

Loneliness affects 55% of healthcare workers, putting them at risk for health problems. These include mental health issues (e.g., depression and anxiety) and physical ailments (e.g., inflammation, heart disease, and increased substance abuse). Despite the well-established link between loneliness and health, research on healthcare workers’ experiences of loneliness remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a 22-day daily diary study to test whether daily awe predicts reduced loneliness in healthcare workers. Our within-person analyses showed that participants who experienced more awe than usual reported less loneliness on the same day. Notably, this association remained significant after controlling for other positive emotions known to benefit well-being and was replicated in a community sample. Further analysis showed that the sense of connectedness, central to awe, accounted for the link between awe and loneliness in both samples. These findings suggest that moments of awe can be an antidote to loneliness and its health costs.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-34864-w.