Our Perception of Time and the Effects On Our Health

I have been reading this book titled Space Time and Medicine by Larry Dorsey M. D. In the book he talks about our perception of time and the effects it has on our health. The book talks a lot about how people always feel they never have enough time to do the things they need to do. The book states that our lives have so much evolved around the precise measurement of time, which has evolved due to the introduction of the clock. The downside to doing things according to the clock is we have become out of tune with the cycles of nature and we have lost our ability to be in tune with ourselves. We no longer eat when we are hungry, or sleep when we are sleepy. We instead follow what is dictated to us by the clock. It’s surprising to note how out of tune people have become with themselves. I talked about this in my article “Becoming the Person we are meant to be”. . It is critically important to re-learn how to live our lives in the moment. Let’s examine the Somatic Experiencing approach to treating trauma for example. This supposedly revolutionary (actually re-learning something we already knew) approach is based on the observation that wild prey animals although they are threatened regularly, they are rarely traumatized. What a coincidence that primitive man lived also lived in the present moment. In modern time something happens to us, as we become detached from our basic instincts, which progressively gets worst, as we get older.


Prior to the age of one a child has no perception of time and is living perfectly in the moment. By the age of two the average child begins to use the word tomorrow. By the age of three a child starts using the words morning, afternoon and night. By the age of sixteen a child’s comprehension and understanding of time is fully developed. The scientists who study time have discovered that time dictated by an external clock cause a person’s internal clock to run faster. Our sense of urgency can result thus speeding upon a person’s rhythmical functions such as heart rate, respiratory rate. Exaggerated rises in blood pressure may follow along with specific hormones that are involved in the body’s response to stress caused by the external clock.

The health issues associated with our perception of not having enough time does have an impact on our health, for example, anxiety, panic attacks, ulcers etc. are partially caused by never being in the present moment. The author noticed a lot of terminally ill patients take up fishing after they have been diagnosed with cancer. An insight came to him after he himself was fishing. He says if you’re sitting in a boat just concentrating and waiting for a fish to bite, time slows down. Fishing is the perfect recreation for someone who thinks that time is limited and they are going to die he concluded. Fishing actually just gets us back into the rhythms of our natural cycle and gets us more in tune with ourselves and nature. Alcoholics Anonymous also talks about this in their literature.

Now think about how controlled we are by watching a clock all day, and the anxiety it causes. It is an interesting thing to think about. According to the book by Dossey the clock is a symbol of death that we all carry on our wrists. Perhaps the great religions of the world are right it is through prayer and meditation that we become like children again. Possibly, the reason this is true is, the use of prayer and meditation changes our perception of time. Time slows down and we get enveloped into stillness and quietness. The great mystics have spoken. Interesting thoughts!






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