Lifestyle medicine is now a known, respected and utilized aspect of medical care to help patients live healthier lives and ward off chronic disease. Clinicians often counsel their patients on the pillars of LM: movement, nutrition, sleep, stress management, connection, and avoiding risky substances. These pillars are powerful and proven to be effective. But after integrating my training as a physician and health coach to lead group wellness travel adventures around the globe, I believe there is another powerful pillar, one that is harder to measure but can be just as vital.

It is awe.

Awe is that “wow” moment when the world suddenly feels bigger, and our place in it feels both smaller and more connected. It can be standing at the top of a mountain, or watching the sky change colors at sunrise.

Emerging research shows that awe is not just a pleasant feeling: It is medicine. Studies have found that experiencing awe can lower inflammation markers, quiet the brain’s default mode network (linked to rumination), and increase prosocial behaviors. In one University of California, Berkeley study, even brief moments of awe led to lower levels of interleukin-6, a key inflammation marker.

But here is the part that really matters to physicians in patient care: Awe can change behavior. When we are in awe, we are more present, more willing to see beyond our immediate discomforts, and more open to change. That shift in perspective can make healthy choices feel less like obligations and more like opportunities.

I see this often when I lead wellness adventure trips. One traveler who had never stuck to an exercise routine found herself hiking a few times a week to prepare for her trip to the Andes, not from discipline, but from the pull of the mountain vistas ahead. Once there, the awe she experienced was overwhelming and deep. She expressed gratitude for her preparation and after she returned home, she continued with her training to prepare for her next adventure. Another, standing under a starlit Moroccan desert sky, found a calm she had not felt in years and came home committed to finding time to relax and connect.

The beauty of awe is that it does not require a passport. While travel can provide many opportunities for awe, it can also be found in our own homes and backyards. Colorful autumn leaves, stars in a night sky, a truly delicious meal, or by looking at a piece of artwork. As physicians, we can encourage our patients, and ourselves, to intentionally seek out these moments. Not as luxuries, but as essential nutrients for mental, emotional, and even physical health.

We prescribe movement, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and connection. Maybe it is time we also prescribe awe.

Because in my experience, awe can be the spark that makes all the other pillars stand stronger.

So here is my challenge to you: Find one small thing to notice that creates a feeling of awe for you, a perfect flower, a beautiful piece of music, the playfulness of a beloved pet. Whatever evokes it for you. Feel what it does to your body and mind. That is the medicine we cannot write on a prescription pad, but we can guide our patients, and ourselves, to take daily.

Stacey Funt is a physician and health coach.