The scientific reason behind why time feels like it goes faster as you get older
You've probably wondered why and how time goes so quickly as an adult, when it seemed like things used to take ages when you were a child.
It's 2025, which might still be a shock a few days into the new year, and you may have wondered why 2024, or even 2023 or 2022 went by so quick.
Time from your childhood seemed to last longer for some bizarre reason, with the likes of Albert Einstein theorising that time is relative, which could explain why your formative years took a lot longer to pass.
Spending time with friends or loved ones may skip by in a heartbeat, while carrying out mundane everyday tasks can take forever.
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But what if I were to tell you that there was a scientific explanation behind all of this?
Mechanical engineering professor Adrian Bejan believes that we all perceive time differently, especially when we're younger.
He explained: “The brain receives fewer images than it was trained to receive when young,” adding that the rate that we process visual information at slows down as we grow older, due to the complexity of our neurones increasing.
This means that electrical signals must travel greater distances, resulting in slower signal processing.
Because of this, it feels like time passes quicker.
In addition to his explanation, studies over the years reveal that our perception of how quickly time goes increases as we get older.
A recent study from Liverpool John Moores University explored how people in the UK felt that Christmas came around quicker each year, while those in Iraq felt like Ramadan came sooner.
The phenomenon is well known in the scientific community, as Bejan explained: “People are often amazed at how much they remember from days that seemed to last forever in their youth.
“It’s not that their experiences were much deeper or more meaningful, it’s just that they were being processed in rapid fire.”
And as a four-year-old for example, a year is a bigger portion of your life compared to if you're 30 or 40 years old.
As we get used to experiences and form habits, we don't delve into the unknown often as adults, which also makes time pass quicker, not presenting your brain anything fresh to hold onto or remember.
This results in all of our days and months ultimately blending into one, with a few highlights, making time pass quicker.
Bejan further suggested: “Slow it down a little more, force yourself to do new things to get away from the routine.
“Treat yourself to surprises. Do unusual things. Have you heard a good joke? Tell me! Do you have a new idea? Do something. Make something. Say something.”
Routine can make us feel like we're just going through the motions, as psychology professor at University of Michigan, Cindy Lustig highlighted that when we're doing a lot of things during a certain period, it can feel 'like time stretches out... and it feels very long'.
She urged that we all 'have a lot of control' of what we experience over time, so it's important to live in the present and avoid dwelling on the past.
Joshua Nair