Chronoception, does it matter?
This article was originally written for a Toastmasters speech.
Time. Have you ever wondered why sometimes it feels like it’s flying by and on other occasions it feels like it’s dragging on? It’s a topic that I’ve thought about for a little while but only recently decided to find out why. It’s related to our Chronoception — our sense of time.
When Day Light Savings ended in April and we went back 1 hour. It was great, I felt like I could finally make the most of my day and accomplish everything I set out to do. It wasn’t because I woke up an hour earlier than before either. I woke up at the same time and yet I managed to get more done in one day than usual.
Unfortunately this chronoception did not last long. We all have a circadian rhythm — a cycle of around 24 hours that processes in our bodies follow. For me this quickly corrected itself. But how could I recreate this feeling for a longer period of time, was it even possible and was it worth pursuing?
Some believe our perception of time slows down as we get older because each year represents a smaller percentage of our life. When we’re 5 years old, it represents ⅕ of our life whereas when we’re 60 it represents 1/60th of our life. I.e. a year feels insignificant in the grand scheme of things and it appears to fly by. On some level this makes sense, what’s a year when you’ve already lived 59 of them?
It’s now accepted that the main differences in the perception of time are the vividness of memories. When you’re a child, so much happens every year. Each milestone was a new experience where a period of 5 years genuinely felt like half a lifetime. However, as you get older and new experiences start to become increasingly rare, that same period of 5 years feels like it flew by.
We just don’t have the same frame of reference to pinpoint each day as we settle in a routine and the days become a blur. Furthermore, as you get older the rate at which our neurons fire slows down which means we start to perceive time slower than it actually is. Studies have shown that older people tend to overestimate the time it takes for 1 minute to pass by as much as 50% compared to those that are younger.
So how can we slow down our sense of time in the moment? There are a couple of renowned ways.
1. Being bored
2. Being afraid
3. Being in nature
And…silence
The commonality between all of these is that we’re in a higher state of arousal. Our internal clock moves faster and makes it feel like more time has passed than it actually has. When we’re afraid of something like a spider, snake or big speech suddenly every moment is noticed and you can’t wait for it to be over. Similarly when you’re bored or in nature you’re very much in the present and noticing all the details around you.
Conversely, elements like alcohol, music and being social appear to speed up time. During the height of the pandemic many felt time passing slowly because of the lack of social interaction. They fell into a state of boredom, literally waiting for days to go by until they could resume normalcy.
So is being in a high state of arousal the key to slowing down time and making the most of it? Sure, being hyper aware of each moment will slow time for you. However, some of the best times in our lives seem to speed by while we’re living them. We reflect on these moments later as they bring us happiness and joy and in retrospect they feel like they lasted a long time or made up a major part of our life.
It’s best to enjoy each moment and create vivid memories for yourself just like when you were a kid. As you get older these experiences may continue to go by quickly but you’ll thank yourself for reflecting upon them.
Our chronoception will continue to change and isn’t always easy to control. What you can control is how you live your life and the memories you create. It may go by quickly but it will have been a life well lived.
References:
Why life seems to speed up as we age | Veritasium
Explained: Time | Netflix
