Time moving too fast? Neurologists prescribe one solution to make time slow down
Time is perceived based on one's experiences and you can change this seemingly swift clock with a simple trick.
You’re not alone if you feel like Christmas breezed through and it’s suddenly the New Year. Experts are sharing that there is a logical reason why we feel like time is passing by quickly as we grow older, The Independent revealed. This is due to the “novelty effect” on our brains. Different phenomena in our lives are no longer “new” as compared to when we were kids. As a result, things are more monotonous and pre-registered, giving the impression that it’s all passing quite quickly and effortlessly. But there’s a way to combat it — simply introduce novelty. And as for most things, consistency really goes a long way.
When we were older, we found summers to be long and warm, and every experience felt distinct and took its time to get registered in our brains. As we grew up, the “novelty” factor changed because we’re already exposed to a lot, and these experiences repeat throughout our days. So it feels more like a routine or a clock that keeps ticking. According to the Good Trade, Matt Johnson, PhD, professor of Psychology at Hult International Business School and host of the Human Nature Blog, explained, “As we age, fewer experiences are truly novel, and the brain tends to compress repetitive or familiar events, making them seem shorter in retrospect.”
So, the solution? Create new experiences. It’s never too late to learn, and you can never run out of new things to learn. Adrian Bejan, a mechanical engineering professor and author of “Time and Beauty: Why Time Flies and Beauty Never Dies,” explained that our brain truly holds on to noteworthy experiences and filters out the rest, which is why bland or monotonous routines feel like they’re swift, thus making time pass faster. He suggested, “Slow it down a little more, force yourself to do new things to get away from the routine. Treat yourself to surprises. Do unusual things… Do something. Make something.” This doesn’t mean you throw away the routines you worked so hard to achieve.
The novelty effect is meant to be incorporated while keeping up the discipline you built. This could be anything, right from trying something new, learning something different, or just tweaking your everyday lifestyle. For instance, you go to work every day, it’s pretty monotonous, but try different approaches — a new route, a different cafe, speaking to a stranger, listening to a podcast, and so on. Or, if you’re at home on a holiday, try a different show, hit up some activity, or call a friend; the ways to novelty are endless. Research shared by Live Science from a study published in the journal Communications Biology also pointed to the same idea. Time passes faster with age because of our experiences and memories. In a study of around 577 participants between the ages of 18 and 88, all were shown an 8-minute clip to monitor brain activity. The result revealed that the brains of older people shifted to new activity less frequently and took longer in each state as compared to the younger people. "This suggests that longer [and, therefore, fewer] neural states within the same period may contribute to older adults experiencing time as passing more quickly," the researchers noted. Time can slow down; it just depends on what you do, so get creative and see the vibrant shift.
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