It’s official: Time flies faster when you’re older

The older you get, the faster time flies.

Research does in fact seem to show that perceived time moves more quickly for older people making our lives feel busy and rushed.

There are several theories which attempt to explain why our perception of time speeds up as we get older.

One idea is a gradual alteration of our internal biological clocks.

The slowing of our metabolism as we get older matches the slowing of our heartbeat and our breathing.

Children’s biological pacemakers beat more quickly, meaning that they experience more biological markers (heartbeats, breaths) in a fixed period of time, making it feel like more time has passed.

Another theory suggests that the passage of time we perceive is related to the amount of new perceptual information we absorb.

With lots of new stimuli our brains take longer to process the information so that the period of time feels longer.

This would help to explain the ‘slow motion perception’ often reported in the moments before an accident.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.