Why is it when you get older time seems to shrink????

a reply to: lavatrance

I feel the same way! I started noticing it more when I hit my 40's. I was watching Kevin Smith doing a Q & A on tv and there was something about him being asked why he smoked pot or started smoking it later in life and he said because it gave him back time and allowed him to get things done or something like that. So, you are not alone!

a reply to: lavatrance

I have noticed exactly the same thing, remember how when you were a kid the time seemed to crawl by, you would wait forever for something or play out with your friends ALL DAY like a day was a very long time.

Neural science may offers some clue's, a child has far more synaptic pathway's and so can in effect parrallel process all that information but as we get older redundant pathways die off and are lost, our overall synaptic density decreased so that a man in his 40's probably only has 2/3rds to half the synaptic density of an 18 year old as our brains tend to only keep the regularly used synapses, this is probably an adaptation of the fact the brain is so energy intensive in human's and excess brain function may not have been sustainable in the past but digress.

The fact is most of us have this same feeling, time seem's to speed up but in reality we are slowing down, so our aging seem's to accelerate as well and time becomes more precious as the days blur into one.

Generally, when we get older we get into a monotonous lifestyle which causes the days to "slip away"

Remember back in school, the first month of every year/semester seemed to go so slow, and then the rest of the year, once the state ofmonotony is reached, seemed to fly by?

Do something that scares you. Explore new things.

The harsh reality is that
the older you get the more you slow down, so
by the time you get half of the stuff done that you
once used to
the whole day has past by.
On the other hand, kids who can't sit still
and are flying around faster then the speed of
light, well for them time would seem to be standing still.
Sooooo unless you want time to pass you by
Keep moving and don't sit still.

The reason why the years seem to fly by when you are getting older, is because you lived true all those years so they are very repetitive, summers and winters seem to fly by...

Like you take a long drive, the way back always seems shorter, because you already been there and it's not new anymore...

FWIW I'm getting old

your mind is being filled with more and more information on a daily basis and you have more responsabilitys and have more you would rather not do but have to in order to make ends meet. Im sure theres a equasion out there some where. Be interesting if there was a measurement of thought over time as a child and compare thought over time as an adult and you would see we pay more attention to time as adults. I used to think about this all the time. we all are expanding with the universe and mybe our current stat of being is filling up?

a reply to: lavatrance

Do you ever wash in cold water?

There's the reason for the shrinkage right there!