There's a Scientific Reason December 'Arrives Sooner' Every Year

It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Easter, and now the holidays are already upon us. Many people wonder where the time has gone and why December appears to arrive more quickly each year. The key to understanding this phenomenon lies in how our brains process time.

The idea of "time perception" can be misleading. We don't perceive time in the same way we perceive colors, sounds, or tastes. Our sensory organs detect light wavelengths, sound frequencies, and chemical compounds, but there's no equivalent "time particle" for the brain to detect directly.

Instead, our brains infer the passage of time by observing changes. The brain gauges how much time has passed by assessing how much has occurred during a specific interval. A period filled with many stimulating events seems longer than an equal duration with fewer events. For instance, in laboratory settings, subjects perceive a flickering image as lasting longer than a static image of the same length.

This also explains why people involved in intense events, such as car accidents, often report experiencing a slowdown of time. A study demonstrated this effect when participants fell backwards into a net from a significant height (over 30 meters). They judged the duration of their own fall to be much longer than when observing someone else's fall, because the intense arousal amplified their attention, leading to denser memories of the experience. When the brain later tries to reconstruct how much time passed, this wealth of detailed memories leads to an overestimation.

To grasp why November and the rest of the year seem to vanish, it's crucial to differentiate between retrospective and prospective time perception. Prospective time perception refers to how we experience time in the present, while retrospective time perception is how we judge time that has already passed. Time seems to drag when we're waiting, like at the dentist's office. Conversely, time flies when we're engaged in enjoyable activities.

Paying attention to time makes it feel like it's passing more slowly. Engaging your mind, whether through work or play, distracts you from the passage of time, making it slip away. Boredom, however, has the opposite effect, causing time to slow to a crawl. Staring at a clock for just a few minutes can feel like an eternity unless you let your mind wander.

The disconnect between prospective and retrospective time perception also explains the saying, "the days are long, but the years are short." This becomes more pronounced as we age. When we're young, we encounter many novel experiences, such as starting school, entering our first relationship, or beginning our first job. These events create a rich tapestry of memories that the brain uses to conclude that a significant amount of time has passed.

As we get older, our daily lives often become more routine. Tasks like taking the kids to school, going to work, and preparing dinner become less stimulating. Mundane activities make time seem to slow down in the moment, creating the impression that the days drag. That said, the reality is a bit more complicated. because these routines are less memorable, they leave weaker traces in our memory. Consequently, when our brains look back to assess how much time has passed since the beginning of the year, they perceive that less has happened, making the year feel shorter.

While we consciously know that it's already December, we still wonder where the year went.

If you want to slow down time as you're experiencing it, the solution is simple, though perhaps unappealing: embrace boredom. Wait at red lights, count to ten thousand, or watch paint dry.

Slowing down retrospective time requires a different approach. The goal is to ensure that you have a year's worth of memories to reflect on. One way to achieve this is to actively preserve your memories by writing in a diary or journal and reminiscing about past events. Keeping your memories alive helps keep your past alive.

Another effective strategy is to fill your year with new and exciting experiences. Explore new places, embark on adventures, and do things that you'll never forget. By creating a wealth of vivid memories, you can prevent the year from feeling like it flew by. As Hinze Hogendoorn, Professor of Visual Time Perception at Queensland University of Technology, suggests, your internal clock will thank you for it.