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I think perhaps the best way to answer how to stay mentally active with the question, posed to me, that got it through my own head. Start by asking yourself th
by silverbax88 16y ago
I think perhaps the best way to answer how to stay mentally active with the question, posed to me, that got it through my own head.
Start by asking yourself this question:
Why do you think that time seems to speed up as we get older?
Now stop, and really think about that question. Don't skip ahead. Think of some possible reasons. It's a phenomenon that we all experience. What's the cause?
When we are preschool age, time seems to last forever. As we get older, the years start rolling by more quickly and I've been told by more than one person in their 70's that it never slows down, it only speeds up.
Why?
The answer is actually that we've 'been there, done that'.
When we are young, EVERYTHING is new. When we are experiencing something new, time seems to slow down, especially because we are enjoying it and taking in so much.
As we get older, our brains start to filter out what we have seen before. You know that feeling when you drive home and don't remember driving home or anything along the way? Boom. There you go. Your brain just ignored the trip.
Have you ever gone on a three day trip to some new place and felt like your were gone for two months? It's only three days, right?
Well, what you effectively do when you experience new things, you slow things down again. Your mind stays active, and here's the kicker...your brain actually figures out better, more efficient ways to move information around the synapses in your grey matter. No, that's not 'mumbo jumbo'. The reverse is also true, which is why once someone experiences depression, they are always susceptible to it. The brain learns the path to certain behavior.
This is why confidence mantras work. Want to make your mind more powerful every year from here on?
Try new things.
- georgieporgie 16y ago> You know that feeling when you drive home and don't remember driving home or > anything along the way? Boom. There you go. Your brain just ignored the trip. That's your brain entering a sleep state, and it's dangerous. Counter this by constantly sweeping your eyes across the road to stay alert. I like everything else you wrote, but as a driver, motorcyclist, bicyclist, and pedestrian, I hate to think that people would view "no memory of my commute" as "my brain optimized it!"
- silverbax88 16y agoNot optimized, ignored. Two completely different things.
- georgieporgie 16y agoThat's meaningless pedantry. Call it whatever you want, it's dangerous.
- TheSOB88 16y agoI've experienced erasures of memory related to using the bathroom. "Did I flush?" I had. It's not like I wasn't conscious, just that my brain doesn't give a shit. I'm sure he's talking about a similar thing.
- pnathan 16y agoThat's not a sleep state. That is a form of disassociation.
- georgieporgie 16y agoI think you mean dissociation. I've seen studies indicating that brain activity in this state is equivalent to sleeping. Regardless, being behind the wheel in this state is dangerous.
- yakto 16y ago> Why do you think that time seems to speed up as we get older? My theory: because each unit of time is a smaller relative percentage of our existence to date. For example, to a 5-yr-old, one year is 20% of their lifespan, and seems to last a loong time. But to a 50-yr-old, one year is only 2% of their lifespan, and flies by.
- say_ 16y agoThis is everyone-and-their-pet-dog's theory, and it makes no sense. Why would the amount of time passed have any effect on the brain's time keeping mechanism? It's probably because the brain gets worse at encoding memories as it ages, so fewer memories/unit time = faster time perception. Also, older people have slower cognitive tempo than younger people.
- DLWormwood 16y ago> The reverse is also true, which is why once someone experiences depression, they are always susceptible to it. The brain learns the path to certain behavior. Damn. I’m officially cursed then; recent diagnosis of depression here due to midlife business failure. sigh