Effect of Exercise-Related Factors on the Perception of Time | Hacker News Reader

Effect of Exercise-Related Factors on the Perception of Time

frontiersin.org

66 pointspseudolus9 comments

I'm really bad at loosing track of time when I get on the computer. I find setting a 20 minute timer really helps with this. I do have a egg timer, but just asking my phone "ok google set timer for 20 minutes" works too.

Interesting that they mentioned body weight effects this, there was and article the other day on HN, showing how obesity contributes to brain activity decline.

Apparently overweight/obese people's brains don't work as well as they could, if they were skinnier.

Marcus Aurelius had a lot of insight on human perception of time actually.

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”

"Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away. "

I do that same 20 minute routine. I use an app on my phone to keep track of time spent on projects/automate the timing.[0] Without it, I get so little work done.

[0] https://productivitychallengetimer.com/

I considered this, but opted for a physical visual timer where the amount of time you set it to is covered by a red overlay on the clock face, which recedes until it reaches zero.

That way you get not only the benefit of the alarm at the end, but also a visually distinct display of how much time is left if you ever look over at the timer while it's counting down.

May be more useful to me than most because of ADHD and the time blindness that comes with it, but either way, it's been a great help and a way to avoid paying attention to my phone while working.

Interesting article. Feynman had a story in one of his books (reprinted here: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/607/2/Feynman.pdf ) in which he described running up and down stairs to see if it affected his ability to track time while he was actively trying to keep accurate time. He found it did not. In his case, he couldn't speak while counting.

In that case he was intentionally spending continuous effort tracking time.

Interesting paper that I'm still going through.

But steps help with time keeping don't they? Swimming in the sea or somewhere with less frame of reference would be a better experiment.

I have found swimming in the ocean to be a very effective way to lose track of time.

Surfing, even just sitting in the lineup, does this.

Edit: this might discount the "less frame of reference" theory by the parent comment considering the relatively stable wave patterns. For example, you can predict the timing of sets coming in based on the previous sets.

Edit2: something about water, especially moving water and the associated sounds, undoubtedly have a powerful effect on my mind. Recently, I've showered more frequently to "clean my mind" than I have for traditional hygiene. But hey, maybe I'm just a dirty hippie.

Edit3: this comment was conceived and written in a bathtub.

I can attest to this to some degree. The speed at which your brain operates influences your perception of time. I can recall when I was in good health that just listening to music sounded much different, especially with certain hallucinogenics, almost as if it were slowed down significantly than how I'd perceive it currently. I also suffer from depression and find that while depressed, time definitely seems to go by quicker and I'm not able to get as much done, and generally my thoughts are not as keen and rapid than when I'm not depressed. I have been semi-manic in the past and it was amazing how many thoughts and things I was able to accomplish in a shorter amount of time, but it also helped me enjoy more subtle things that I normally wouldn't be able to notice because my mind can't process as many things at once.

I can attest to this as well. At the end of a run music seemed much slower for me. A track that usually was very fast sounded odd, it sounded like the music was much slower.

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