The most effective ways to free yourself from the power of time and make life longer are named.
In childhood and adulthood, time does not pass the same way. Everyone knows this from school, because then the summer holidays lasted endlessly. Now these three months pass so quickly that we do not have time to notice them. What's summer there ?! Sometimes you don't have time to throw the old tree out of the house, when it's time to dress up the forest beauty for the next New Year!
For an adult, do days fly 5 times faster?
Why does the running of time accelerate as we get older? From the point of view of science, several theories are trying to explain this phenomenon. So the theory of proportions says that the feeling of time is born from the ratio of two variables: the memory of the years lived and the life perspective that we drew for ourselves. Accordingly, a 10-year-old child perceives a year as 1/10 of his life, while for a 50-year-old man the same year is only 1/50 of his life path. It turns out that for an adult, time flows 5 times faster! This theory is not devoid of logic, but it implies that we are constantly looking back, evaluating the passage of time from the moment of birth. But people don't live like that. We exist within a much smaller time frame: from morning to lunchtime, from Monday to Friday, from March 8 to February 23, etc.
Biological theories provide another explanation. One of them - the theory of metabolism, believes that time accelerates due to the fact that the metabolic rate decreases with age. Children have more heartbeats, higher breathing rates, blood runs faster through the vessels, and tomboys are like clocks in a hurry: while a regular chronometer measures the standard 12 hours, they manage to “wind” 15. That is, their day contains more time than adults. But in older people with a slow metabolism, the density of time is very low and the days pass by like flocks of migratory birds.
Time accelerator
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However, psychologist Steve Taylor from Beckett University (UK) put forward a different explanation. He believes that the acceleration of time is associated with our psychological perception of the world around us. And it changes with age.
“The feeling of the transience of being is largely determined by how much information from the outside world our mind receives and processes,” says Professor Taylor. - The more signals the brain analyzes, the slower time goes. The difference between adults and children is that the little ones live in an unknown world, for them every day is a time of great discoveries. The world through the eyes of young children is full of amazing mysteries, amazing phenomena, delightful beauties. But with age, we lose the intensity and brilliance of perception. Everything around becomes dull, familiar and predictable, we live automatically, by inertia, and we stop paying attention to the wonderful world around us.
Taylor's theory has received experimental confirmation. Psychologist Robert Ornstein ran a series of tests. In one case, he invited volunteers to listen to recordings of various sounds, these were tapping, clicking and other household noises. And then he asked to rate how long they “enjoyed” the recording. The participants in the experiment claimed that tapes where the number of clicks was doubled sounded longer (in fact, the duration of all recordings was the same). In another case, volunteers viewed paintings with simple and complex designs. While watching paintings with intricate patterns, minutes for people also dragged on longer.
Alternative to fitness and healthy eating
One of the laws of the psychological perception of time, which Taylor formulated, says: "time slows down when we are faced with a new environment and new experience." Knowing this, you can find a way to control the passage of time (see "STOP, MOMENT!"). Many people are addicted to exercise or healthy eating to prolong their lives. Slowing down time is a good alternative way to extend life, if not according to your passport, then in your own perception.
“Routine is the most powerful time accelerator,” says Steve Taylor. - Usually we begin to feel this "afterburner" when we approach the 30-year mark. Most of us have already calmed down by this point. We have a permanent job, family, home, and our one and only life turns into an everyday habit. Boring work, dinner upon returning home, television show, beer on Fridays with friends … And you are immediately blown away by a powerful stream of time. What to do? Change jobs, travel regularly to new places, set yourself new tasks and time will go slower for you. Paradoxically, a person who died at the age of 40 can live more time in his life than a centenarian who reached his 100th birthday.
STOP, MOMENT
TV and the Internet are the most effective time killers.
Top 5 tips to help make your life longer:
- To slow down time, you need to increase the amount of information that your brain has to process. Any new hobby, going to museums and theaters, meeting strangers (even by correspondence in social networks), moving to another apartment, changing jobs - anything that makes the brain react to unusual stimuli delays the passage of time.
- If you walk the same road to and from work every day, then all this time is "eaten" by the brain. To deactivate the autopilot, constantly change routes. Of course, you shouldn't turn your way home into a trip around the world. It is enough to lay a "wolf's noose" through the neighboring yard or walk along a parallel street. If you are traveling by bus or train, look at people outside the window, clouds, traffic situations - do not let the stream of ordinary thoughts "turn off" your consciousness.
- During work that requires automatic actions (mowing the lawn, washing dishes, house cleaning, etc.), do not listen to music on headphones and try not to dream. Live in the present.
- While on vacation, try to travel to new destinations or active leisure activities. For example, a hiking trip, a small bike ride or rafting on the river "load" the brain with new impressions and fresh sensations several times more intense than a beach vacation in Turkey, where the same life cycle repeats from day to day.
- Do not spend too much free time on passive (no special purpose) watching TV and "surfing" the Internet. TV and computer are the most effective time killers.
YAROSLAV KOROBATOV