For many people, 2023 went by in a blink doesnt it feel like it was just January?
But for others, especially children, last years holidays may seem like eons ago.
saidCindy Lustig, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.
She added that the perception of time is also influenced by memory and how much youve experienced.
For an 8-year-old, a week is a big portion of their life.
Looking back on time plays into this feeling of acceleration.
This is for a number of reasons.
In other words, our brains lump time together when the days or weeks are similar.
Changes to your routine can also affect how fast the years seem to go by.
Therefore, when looking back, time may feel slower.
This can apply to adults, too.
Some experts think that how our brain absorbs images impacts our perception of time.
How we process what we see can also influence how we view time, Bejan said.
Our brains are trained to receive many images when we are infants.
Because were absorbing so many new images as kids, it may feel like months and years are longer.
As adults, the brain receives fewer images than it was trained to receive when young, Bejan said.
Therefore, we feel like time went by more quickly.
Living a routine-only life makes the year fly really fast, he added.
Lustig noted that being fully engaged and in the moment can make those moments seem to last longer.
In fact, laboratory studies show that mindfulness exercises can stretch our perception of time, she said.
So dont make a run at focus on multiple tasks at once.
Instead, just focus on the experience at hand.
So I encourage everybody to make the most of the time that youve got.This article originally appeared onHuffPost.
