Why Time Speeds Up As You Age (And How to Slow It Down)

Why Does Time Seem to Accelerate with Age?

“Yesterday was just summer vacation, and today another month is ending.” “Years fly by like weeks.”

We hear these phrases increasingly often—and, as it turns out, they are not just metaphors. The latest neurological studies confirm that time subjectively speeds up with age, and the culprit is a mechanism hidden in our brain.

The Brain Records Fewer Events—This Shortens Our Memories

An international team of scientists studied 557 individuals aged 18 to 88. Participants watched an eight-minute video, and neuroimaging tracked changes in their brain activity during the screening.

The result was unambiguous: older people’s brains changed their state less frequently and more slowly than the brains of younger participants. What does this mean?

“When the brain registers fewer changes, it receives fewer ‘reference points.’ Memories become scarcer, and time segments begin to seem shorter,” the study’s authors explain.

The findings were published in the scientific journal Communications Biology.

In other words: a young brain records many micro-events that “stretch” time, while an older brain records less. That is why adulthood seems fast, and childhood… endless.

How the Internal Time Scale Changes Our Perception

Polish researcher, Dr. Joanna Szadura of UMCS, points out that humans function simultaneously on two time scales: social and internal. Society divides time into hours, days, and years. However, our internal time assessment scale manages it differently. How? For example: a year constitutes 20% of a 5-year-old’s life, but for a 50-year-old, it is only 2% of their time. This proportion makes the next day, quarter, or year pass faster the longer we live.

Nevertheless, each of us wishes that time would slow down—even just a little. How can we achieve this?

Is It Possible to “Slow Down Time”? Scientists Say Yes

Although actual time flows invariably, our perception can slow down—provided we give the brain more cues to remember. Researcher Linda Geerligs emphasizes that a simple rule applies here: the more new experiences, the more stretched the memories become.

According to the Dutch expert, you can achieve this by communicating with people and doing things that bring you joy.

“Learning new things, traveling, and engaging in novel activities can help make time seem more stretched in retrospect,” says Geerligs.

Time Flows the Same. We Are the Ones Who Change

Scientists emphasize: objective time does not accelerate. Only the way the brain encodes it and how our memory organizes experiences changes. The good news? We have influence over this.

Consequently, the more novelty we introduce each month, the more stretched and conscious our sense of time becomes.

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Read this article in Polish: Czas ucieka Ci szybciej niż myślisz? Wiadomo już, dlaczego