Is your day dragging on? It’s all in your head
You’ve no doubt noticed that time has a pesky habit of slowing down when you’re counting down the days, and speeding up when you’re enjoying yourself. Now, obviously, time doesn’t change according to your current schedule, but your individual perception of it does. Interestingly, scientists have discovered that our perception of time is affected by not just our activity, but by our own personality as well.
According to a study from Germany’s Institute of Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, people will experience stretches of time very differently. In the study, led by psychologist Marc Wittmann, people were left to sit in an empty room for seven-and-a-half minutes. Depending upon the personality of each person, they reported the time as lasting differently. Impulsive people felt that the time was closer to 20 minutes, while those with more patience estimated that it was only a couple of minutes.
Dr Wittmann suggested that the human brain is best able to process time accurately up to a period of about five seconds, after which, things become cloudier.
In a separate study, Wittmann found that individuals with more activity in the insular cortex of the brain were better able to make accurate judgements of time compared to those with less activity in that area. The insular cortex is the part of the brain that integrates signals from around the body to help humans sense their own self, including the passing of time.
When we have little stimulation, we are more prone to being sensitive about the passing of time – hence the feeling of things dragging on when we’re bored. Being busy, or enjoying oneself means we pay less attention to time’s passing, allowing it to slip by at what seems a clip.
If you want things to slow down, Wittmann suggests taking a few minutes out from your business to do something different – fresh air and a walk around the block should help reset your perception of time when you’re feeling it slip through your fingers.
When was the last time you felt time speeding up?