Something You Should Know

What Awe and Wonder Do to Your Brain & Why Your Attention Span Is Shrinking

November 27, 2025

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  • Experiencing awe, even briefly, reduces stress, increases well-being, enhances connection to others, lowers blood pressure, and may have benefits that last for a week or longer. 
  • The average human attention span on a screen has significantly decreased, dropping from minutes in 2004 to approximately 47 seconds recently, driven by both external notifications and self-interruptions. 
  • While attention switching is correlated with lower self-assessed productivity and increased stress, strategic breaks using simple, lightly engaging activities can replenish limited attentional resources. 

Segments

Cold and Flu Sinus Relief Tips
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(00:00:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Hot chicken soup is more effective than sipping hot water for clearing sinuses when congested.
  • Summary: Practical advice for sleeping better with a cold includes using nasal strips and taking a hot shower before bed for steam. Saline nasal rinses or neti pots are recommended, but caution is advised against overusing over-the-counter nasal sprays due to rebound effects. Elevating the body from the waist up with a wedge pillow is better than propping the head up with standard pillows.
The Science and Benefits of Awe
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(00:04:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Awe is an emotion defined by encountering vast, mysterious stimuli, and its brief experience reduces stress and increases well-being.
  • Summary: Awe arises from encountering vast mysteries in size or meaning that challenge our current understanding, such as moral beauty, nature, music, or big ideas. Research shows a brief dose of awe makes people feel less stressed, increases well-being, reduces loneliness, lowers blood pressure by activating the vagus nerve, and expands the sense of time. Awe is not rare, with people reporting feelings of awe two to three times a week, and it is considered the most human emotion, fostering connection and creativity.
Shrinking Attention Spans Measured
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(00:31:33)
  • Key Takeaway: The average attention span on a screen has fallen to about 47 seconds, with half of observations showing less than 40 seconds of focus.
  • Summary: Attention spans have decreased significantly since 2004, with the average time spent on a screen before switching dropping to 47 seconds. This rapid switching, or multitasking, is physiologically stressful, causing blood pressure to rise and leading to more errors. People self-interrupt just as often as they are externally interrupted, often due to boredom, task difficulty, or an urge to check communications.
Restoring Focus and Intentionality
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(00:45:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Controlling attention requires practicing meta-awareness—observing the reasons for urges to switch tasks—and practicing forethought about future consequences.
  • Summary: To combat distraction, one can practice meta-awareness by probing the reasons behind urges to check email or social media, such as boredom or task difficulty. Practicing forethought involves imagining how current actions, like spending time on the news, will negatively impact later goals, such as meeting a deadline. Completing small, nagging tasks early in the day, before peak focus time, prevents them from becoming sources of self-interruption later.
Color’s Impact on Flavor Perception
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(00:52:32)
  • Key Takeaway: The color of a plate or bowl can trick the brain into perceiving food or drink as sweeter or saltier than it actually is.
  • Summary: Food served on a red plate can taste just as sweet even if it contains less sugar, because the brain associates red with sweet fruit. Conversely, blue plates enhance the perception of saltiness; popcorn served in a blue bowl was rated as saltier than the same popcorn served in a red bowl, which tasted sweeter.