Time Flies Faster as We Grow Older, Here’s How You Can Slow It Down

This post is not a clickbait headline. It is not a trick on my sleeves to hook you to read it. It is a real experience, backed by science, to convince you that we all can slow down a time even a little bit.

Have you ever wondered why time speeds up when we get older?

It feels like time keeps slipping away, leaving us faster than we realize, as if we grow apart and become strangers. It looks scary to me because I am afraid that I’m going to die soon without noticing. Maybe gradually moving to the end of our lives will remind us again to fix our broken bonds with time that we haven’t realized since we grew older.

As I recall my childhood memories, I felt like I had all the time in the world. There’s no concept of time pressure or deadlines in my mind. It was such a carefree world where my life consisted of learning and having fun every day. My family used to take me to the swimming pool every Saturday so we could splash around and throw the ball while learning how to swim. The day felt so long, filled with dense joy and freedom.

My dad taught me how to ride a bicycle. I was so scared of falling at first. But he was patient, gently holding me steady until I felt confident enough to try cycling on my own. I used to play games all day long without worrying about anything. I would lose myself in the game for hours, forgetting about everything else around me. Those days still felt like yesterday, filled with adventure, wonder, and awe, yet years away.

Fast forward to the present; time flies fast, yet I don’t experience the immense adventure, wonder, and awe it used to offer. I’m losing the spark of life, things that get me excited and bring me to forget if time even exists.

Fixing the broken bond

Is this the fact that I must accept that time flies fast with less dense memories as I grow older?

In his talk, David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University, said:

“The way we estimate time has a lot to do with how many memories we laid down and footage we drew from. But it tends to fade away as we grow older.”

It explains why time flies fast as we grow older because when we were kids, we were still figuring out the rules of the world. We sought novelty as we still needed to figure out thousands of things.

We learned how to kick a ball, drive a motorbike, climb a tree, and play baseball for the first time. So, when we looked back at the end of the summer, we felt joy and wonder about all the things we just learned. We were awed by the new things we tried for the first time.

Unfortunately, this awe starts to fade as we age because we have learned some world rules. We begin to notice some patterns that we have seen in the past. We don’t learn new things anymore. We’ve been there and done that. So, when we look back at the end of the summer, there were not many things that we tried and learned. We become numb to the present experience. As a result, things move so quickly as we go by days, weeks, months, and years, like a fleeting blur that we hardly notice or recognize.

Is there a remedy for it?

Eagleman believes so.

He has the answer on how to live longer how to seem as though you live longer.

According to Eagleman:

“I think there is only one way to slow time: seek novelty. This works because new experiences cause the brain to write down more memory, and when you read that back out retrospectively, the event seems to have lasted longer.”

Seeking novelty refers to the behavior or inclination of actively pursuing new experiences, ideas, or stimuli instead of sticking to familiar ones. This trait is characterized by a desire to explore, discover, and engage with the unknown or the unfamiliar.

I remember when I was in Berlin on my recent trip to Europe. Before going out, my friends and I had breakfast together. Then, I accompanied them to the Berlin Marathon start line, where I saw thousands of people coming in to run for the Marathon. Since I didn’t participate, I had to go back to the hotel to prepare to explore Berlin. I took a train to the city center, sipped a coffee at a cafe nearby, walked around the city center, went to Alexanderplatz, Granitschale im, Berlin Cathedral, coffee shop (again), and returned to the Marathon finish line. It’s just past 12.

So, I continued my journey to Friedrichshain to uncover what was exciting about the place. I found a dynamic neighborhood with many shops and bars, a fabulous bookstore that offers many classic books, some wall art down the rivers, including My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, and a place to sit down and relax by watching some street musician sing by the river. And the day seems to linger. I am not even finished with the nightlife stories.

As the day ended, I reminisced how many things had happened in a single day. It was so damn rich! My brain was trying hard to digest all the new information I learned during the day. There were so many things I had to uncover. Dense memories filled my brain with its beaming light.

It reminds me again how important it is to seek novelty to feel awe showering on your face, refresh your mind to feel new and excited again, and eagerly enjoy what life has to offer.

How to slow down time

You have learned that seeking novelty is the secret to slowing down time. But you might question, “Do I have to change my life drastically just to feel novel again?”

No, you don’t have to.

Seeking novelty doesn’t necessarily mean making drastic changes to your lifestyle or embarking on grand adventures (though those can be great, too). It can be integrated into your daily routine with simple, accessible activities that introduce new experiences:

• Try a new hobby: Pick a hobby or activity you’ve never tried. It could be something as simple as starting a garden, learning to paint, or taking up a new sport.
• Explore new places: You don’t need to travel far to explore new places. Visit a park, museum, or neighborhood in your city that you’ve never been to before. Take a different route on your way to the office. Experience the different atmosphere and vibe on your journey to the office.
• Change your routine: If you’ve been eating or cooking the same food, change it. Try new recipes. Explore different ways of workouts. Rearrange your furniture. Small changes can make your environment feel fresh and stimulate your brain.
• Meet new people: The more you meet new people, the more new ideas and perspectives will emerge, sparking your brain with an exciting emotion. Attend community events, join clubs or groups related to your interests, volunteer, or participate in local workshops or classes.
• Read and learn: Exposure to new ideas and knowledge by reading books, articles, or watching documentaries on topics you know little about. Stop reading that typical love storybook you’ve been reading for ages; try reading something new you’ve never known before.
• Creative expression: Engage in creative writing, drawing, music, or any artistic expression you’re unfamiliar with. Creativity is a powerful way to introduce novelty into your life, as it involves seeing the world in new ways.
• Challenge yourself: Set challenges or goals that push you out of your comfort zone. This could be anything from running a 10K, learning a new language, or speaking in public. Overcoming challenges can bring a sense of novelty and achievement.
• Mindfulness and observation: Practice mindfulness by paying more attention to your surroundings and activities. Sometimes, by appreciating the details of everyday life, you can find novelty that you overlook.

Sometimes, it’s easier to fall into a routine trap where nothing exciting happens.

Days feel dull and much shorter when everything is the same.

The weekend fades away in the blink of an eye.

Months seem to pass by like grains of sand slipping through a clenched fist.

Years come only to say hello without hugging.

Decades may feel like small bumps on the road, enough to notice but not enough to stop and ponder.

And, without you realize, you are already in your 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. When this happens, it’s time to seek for novelty.

Engaging in novel experiences can be a strategy to make life more fulfilling and to create a sense of elongated time, as it enriches our lives with diverse memories and learning opportunities, making our days feel more significant and less fleeting.

I remember a magical quote from Sam Altman that rings true as we grow older in this world:

“The days are long, but the decades are short.”

- Sam Altman

P.S. This post is firstly published on Fitgeist.