During the past two decades, a new science of awe emerged. Based on this research, some interpret awe as a powerful aid for many facets of human flourishing.

But it wasn’t until recently that researchers used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) – the same study design often used to evaluate new medical treatments – to investigate whether awe can improve mental health. Because participants meeting specific criteria are randomly assigned to different conditions, RCTs provide stronger evidence about what helps most.

In this 2025 study, researchers worked with individuals living with long COVID, a population at increased risk for mental health struggles. Participants were randomly assigned either to begin an awe intervention immediately or to wait four weeks before starting. Everyone consented to this arrangement, and everyone eventually received the intervention.

For four weeks, participants learned a simple three-step process – one they were encouraged to practice at least three times each day. The researchers summarized the approach using the acronym AWE:

1. Attention – giving full and undivided attention to things you appreciate, value, or find amazing.
2. Waiting – slowing down and pausing.
3. Exhaling and expanding – intentionally amplifying the sensations being experienced.

What I find fascinating about this intervention is how the researchers guided participants to experience awe. The instructions don’t emphasize something extraordinary like visiting the Grand Canyon, taking in the Northern Lights, or getting tickets to the World Cup. Rather, they suggest a daily practice that almost any of us could do. Basically, pay attention to what we find amazing, really take that in, and savor the experience.

So what happened?

Compared with those waiting to begin the intervention, participants who completed the awe program reported increases in awe and overall well-being, along with decreases in stress and depressive symptoms. From the beginning of the study to the end, those in the awe condition showed a 16% increase in well-being, a 12% decrease in stress, and a 17% decrease in depressive symptoms.

As someone who spends a good deal of time reading research, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what to make of these findings.

This is only one study, and I’m honestly not sure how “big” an effect is being revealed. A 17% reduction in depression symptoms would likely be felt as significant by someone suffering, but it’s also possible that it could come from participating in any kind of meaningful psychological change.

On the other hand, the results do fit the broader scientific picture of awe. Generally speaking, two decades of research point to how awe increases well-being through a variety of pathways, including decreased sympathetic nervous system activity and body inflammation, stronger social connections, and a sense of being connected with something larger than oneself.

So what should we do with these findings?

The most cautious answer is that we need more research to know more. One RCT is interesting, but science advances through replication, and the more we find the same patterns of results, the more we can trust them. Future studies will need to determine whether awe interventions outperform other psychological interventions and whether the benefits persist over time.

At the same time, these findings arrive at a moment when many across the world are trying what are sometimes called “social prescriptions.” In addition to medications and traditional therapies, practitioners in some countries now prescribe activities such as spending time in nature, engaging with music and the arts, using spiritual practices, and the like. Although these activities differ in important ways, many of them share something in common: They create opportunities for awe.

It may be premature to prescribe awe by itself as a mental health treatment. But this first randomized controlled trial suggests that the simple practice of paying closer attention to what amazes us may have measurable benefits for psychological well-being.

And if future research confirms these findings, we may discover that one pathway to better mental health begins not with extraordinary experiences, but with learning to notice the extraordinary dimensions of ordinary life.