Jillian Wilson is the senior wellness reporter at HuffPost, where she covers mental health, physical health and debunks the health misinformation that's so rampant online.
From debunking reckless health myths to restoring trust in vaccines, our reporting elevates the experts. Join us today to keep knowledge free and the public safe.For many people, the past year went by in a blink ― doesn’t it feel like it was just January? But for others, especially children, last year’s holidays may seem like eons ago.
There’s a reason why you may feel like the years moved slowly when you were a kid, but zoom by now. Experts say our perception of time greatly changes as we age, which makes certain periods feel like they go by quickly.“Our perception of days, weeks, years and that kind of time seems to be especially influenced by our perspective: Are we in the moment experiencing it, or are we looking backward on time?” saidShe added that the perception of time is also influenced by memory and how much you’ve experienced. For an 8-year-old, a week is a big portion of their life. For an 80-year-old, a week is a much smaller portion of their life, which contributes to the feeling that it went by quickly.A day in the life of a retired 80-year-old may feel like it’s going by more slowly than that of an 8-year-old who is busy at school. However, when both people look back on a month or a year, that period of time will seem like it went by faster to the older person.This is for a number of reasons. For the 80-year-old, their life probably doesn’t look too different than it did when they were 78 or 79, “so, in that case, they’re looking back on fewer events,” Lustig said. “When you’re looking back, the less rich your representation is, the more it’s going to seem like the time went by quickly.” In other words, our brains lump time together when the days or weeks are similar. So for an 80-year-old who largely does the same thing every day, the year is going to blend together in their mind and feel like it went by quickly. The new and exciting things in a day are what make the days and months feel different, and thus set them apart in our minds.Adrian Bejan The many experiences young children have in a day contribute to the notion that time is more plentiful and more activities can fit into that time. Therefore, when looking back, time may feel slower. This can apply to adults, too. When we look back on a time period that was filled with lots of new experiences, “we see large expense of events and memories, and that makes it seem like time stretches out ... and it feels very long,” Lustig said. If you’re not introducing new patterns into your life, time can feel like it’s going by much quicker overall.How we process what we see can also influence how we view time, Bejan said. Our brains are trained to receive many images when we are infants. Because we’re absorbing so many new images as kids, it may feel like months and years are longer. As adults, “the brain receives fewer images than it was trained to receive when young,” Bejan said. Therefore, we feel like time went by more quickly. In other words, there are physiological factors at play that influence our perception of time ― namely, the older we get, the faster it feels.While you can’t slow time, you can do things to feel like it’s moving a little slower. Bejan said many older people ask him how they can slow down time, “because everybody wants to live longer the urge to do more and better things with the time that is available.”This could mean picking up a childhood hobby , taking an overnight trip to a city you’ve never visited or signing up for a cooking class. Learning new things is another good way to make your time feel longer when you look back on your life, he said. Bejan stressed the adage “variety is the spice of life”: you should get out of your routine and take advantage of the time you have, which will only help make you feel like your year had more time to fill, he said.Lustig noted that being fully engaged and “in the moment” can make those moments seem to last longer. In fact, laboratory studies show that mindfulness exercises can stretch our perception of time, she said. So don’t try to focus on multiple tasks at once. Instead, just focus on the experience at hand. “None of us know how much time we have, but, interestingly, we do actually have a lot of control over how we experience that time,” Lustig said. “So I encourage everybody to make the most of the time that you’ve got.”By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Keep bath time safe with the best bath spout coverFind the best bath spout cover to help your child be safe during bath time.
Read more »
These Next-Gen BMWs Will Update Faster Than Your iPhoneBMW’s Neue Klasse models promise playful handling, rapid OTA updates, and constant evolution with new features arriving several times each year
Read more »
Scientists Discover Giant Black Hole Growing 2.4X Faster Than Theoretical LimitThe Best in Science News and Amazing Breakthroughs
Read more »
5 Drinks That May Age Your Brain FasterYour ultimate source for expert nutrition tips and health advice, covering wellness, healthy recipes, cooking hacks, food news, style trends and shopping.
Read more »
4 Quick Standing Exercises That Slow Aging Faster Than Gym After 40Your ultimate source for expert nutrition tips and health advice, covering wellness, healthy recipes, cooking hacks, food news, style trends and shopping.
Read more »
Korean researchers make bone-healing gun; offers faster, less invasive fracture treatmentScientists in Korea have developed a handheld 3D-printing device that lays biodegradable material directly onto fractures, significantly accelerating bone healing in early animal trials.
Read more »