Time Warp

 Your Perception and Use of Time Can Affect Your Wellbeing in Curious Ways.

- Stephanie Osfield

Time is one of those things that never seems to arrive in the right amount. On one hand we want more ‘me time’, time out and time off to do the things that bring us joy, while on Monday afternoon we probably wish the week away in pursuit of a Saturday lie-in and watching the kids play tennis. Except that by Tuesday, when we remember a Thursday deadline, time again seems insufficient – and fast moving. To say modern human’s relationship with time is messy is an understatement. Yet in this back-and-forth dance, with implicit servitude of temporal poverty, it’s less common to consider how the experience of time, as it is right now, impacts performance in the very activities with which we ‘fill’ time. The way you use, ignore or address time can impact on everything from your weight to your sense of satisfaction in life. So it’s helpful to be savvy about how time warps your world in the long and short-term.

“The role of your body clock is to ensure that you sleep during the night and are alert during the daytime,” says Siobhan Banks, Senior Research Fellow from the Centre for Sleep Research at the University of South Australia. Trouble is that working overtime until late, suffering insomnia and staying up partying can all throw your circadian rhythm out of whack. “This can keep your body temperature raised, giving you ‘stay awake’ hormonal signals at the wrong time of day,” Banks explains.

BOREDOM AND ENJOYMENT