I remember my dear departed dad saying it when he was in his, oh, 60's I guess.

'Time goes by a lot faster the older you get'.

I thought the old boy might be losing it. I mean, after all there are always 24 hours in a day, no matter if you're 9 or 99, right?

Well, here I am walking around with some considerable age on my skin and bones and I'll be doggoned...the man that was my dad was right. Well, kind of anyway.

It seems like yesterday my first Grandchild was born (He'll be 16 in December). And last month my beloved Minnesota Twins won the World Series (Uh, that was 1991). And it wasn't that long ago my kids were born (I don't want to even go there).

But still, there are the same number of seconds in a minute, the same number of minutes in hour, same number of hours...well, you get the idea.

But if you're one of us that swear time moves faster, you're not completely bonkers, you're not losing that experienced mind of yours.

According to Scientific American, psychologists did a study and survey on this very question, why time moves faster the older you get. What they discovered is, it has to do with memories.

When we, as old folks (I hate that term!) don't create new memories because we are in something of a routine we follow day after day after day, time moves by faster.

According to the article:

Our brain encodes new experiences, but not familiar ones, into memory, and our retrospective judgment of time is based on how many new memories we create over a certain period. In other words, the more new memories we build on a weekend getaway, the longer that trip will seem in hindsight.

Essentially, new things, new experiences 'slow down' time, while doing the same thing over and over and over 'speed up time'. Perhaps another way to put it, as we get older and slow down, time speeds up.

Confusing? Well, read the whole article and and findings for yourself.

Bottom line as far as what I got out of it? Slow down that speeding time by doing different things, create new memories and remember...there's time to do those new things!

Sign Up for Our Newsletter
