Recent research has shown that exercise can alter people’s perception of time, slowing down their sense of time. Therefore, when you feel like time is passing too quickly, you might consider exercising to slow down your perception of time, while also benefiting your health.
A study conducted by psychologists from the UK and the Netherlands found that cycling for 10 minutes may seem like an easily achievable goal, but once you start cycling, you may feel that time is passing slower than you imagined.
Researchers stated that this study undeniably demonstrates that people’s perception of time slows down due to exercise, irrespective of the level of competition in the environment.
In this study, 33 adult men and women were experimented on by researchers. These participants were asked to guess when 30 seconds had passed without the aid of a clock or watch, relying solely on their internal timekeeping mechanism.
When these participants were stationary, they tended to perceive the end of 30 seconds slightly later than the actual time. In other words, time felt like it was “flying by.”
However, when they cycled on stationary bikes at rest and covered a distance of 4 kilometers, their perception of time became distorted. On average, they felt like 30 seconds had been elongated by 8%.
The results of this study align with previous research findings. Past studies have also indicated that exercise can slow down people’s perception of time. Psychologists suggest that the physiological impulses and awakening induced by exercise make individuals particularly conscious of their bodies and discomfort, which in turn elongates the perception of time due to the sensation of pain.
Chronoception, the study of time perception, explores how factors such as age, emotions, exercise, and body temperature affect the internal timekeeping mechanism in different ways.
The lead psychologist of the study conducted at Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK, Andrew Mark Edwards, stated that exercise significantly distorts the perception of time, rather than the intensity of the exercise itself.
He mentioned that their study was relatively small-scale and further research is needed to examine the impact of external stimuli, exercise intensity, and duration on time perception.
These research findings were published in the “Brain and Behavior” journal in April.
Previous reports have also highlighted that immersing oneself in nature can alter people’s perception of time, making them feel like time has expanded. For those who feel like they never have enough time, slowing down and spending more time enjoying life by engaging with nature could be beneficial.