**An Experiential Illusion or Reality**
‘Time, time, time, see what’s become of me,’ sang Simon and Garfunkel, and later the Bangles. But what am I referring to? How do our bodies perceive time, apart from our minds? What role does time play in our lives? Why do we harm ourselves in the pursuit of time?
Being present means your complete focus is on the current moment, not the internal dialogue about the moment that has just gone by, while you are already neglecting the one you are currently experiencing by thinking about the next one that just slipped away unnoticed. And then the subsequent one you just overlooked, for the same reason. It swiftly becomes unmanageable.
If we are not engaged in the present, we lose out on our existence more than can be quantified. You can never reclaim time. Being mindful with it is crucial. However, how we utilize it is not the only factor to ponder. Grasping time as we perceive it is just as valuable. What precisely is time and how does it influence our bodies and minds?
**Never Enough Time**
One of the most frequent justifications I encounter for why individuals do not cultivate mindfulness is the absence of time. Yet time is infinite. We behave as if it is constant due to our allegiance to a time-measuring tool known as a clock. However, that clock may malfunction or may be adjusted for seasonal reasons. Daylight savings time, winter time, Greenwich mean time — these are all arbitrary measurements imposed upon us by some considerate individual or committee in history, to which we have become unquestioning adherents.
**Humans Natural Time Cycles**
We all possess our own inherent time cycles.
1. Diurnal rhythms are the two daily biological cycles, impacted by day/night transitions. Durations vary based on the hours of darkness and light, and are also influenced by artificial illumination. Within that framework, at night, we have 90-minute sleep cycles oscillating between deep and light sleep. Diurnal rhythms regulate our metabolism, decelerating it during sleep and accelerating it during activity, providing energy when we need it most. It functions most actively during the day.
2. Circadian rhythms run parallel to the diurnal ones, continuously cycling over a twenty-four hour span, responding to behaviors in light and darkness, sleepiness, and alertness. They react to internal biological changes such as cortisol and melatonin levels. Most of the investigations into circadian rhythms emerged following a groundbreaking and almost debilitating experiment conducted by a French geologist, Michel Siffre, whose findings I will delve into further below.
Diurnal and circadian cycles operate in harmony, offering us a sense of routine across days and nights. Both are regulated by the hypothalamus.
**Time Cycles Change Over Time**
My cycles have evolved with time and age. As a child, you slept for much longer than you do now. In my seventies, I primarily sleep in shifts, awake for about two hours each night, savoring the tranquility and darkness alone. It can be a highly productive time — I write, read, or catch up on some TV. Occasionally, I browse online, as we all do nowadays, seeking inspiration, perhaps for enjoyment or for a new poem or writing piece.
I can only maintain this lifestyle because I go to bed early enough to ensure a full night’s sleep plus two hours of productive time in the middle, making my nights about ten hours long, ideally containing seven to eight hours of sleep.
Do we do ourselves harm if we impose time constraints, or do we merely need to better organize for sleep cycles? Perhaps a little of both.
**The Cave Experiment**
In 1972, Michel Siffre confined himself, alone, in a pitch-black cave, approximately 440 feet underground for 180 days. The only light he had was artificial, the only sounds were his own or the occasional insect, and he lacked any means to measure time. He aimed to investigate human experiences of time, over time, believing this would unveil how the brain reacts to complete isolation and what occurs when disconnected from natural cycles.
He adhered to his own hunger and fatigue to determine when to eat and sleep, following his natural body clock as he believed, but his perception of time began to skew. Hours felt like minutes and days melded together.
This experience is not unique to Siffre. I too can perceive hours passing in seconds and minutes lingering like hours. It varies depending on my activities and whereabouts. This present moment may feel eternal, and yesterday may seem like a month ago.
However, Siffre’s mental condition deteriorated rapidly, likely due to a lack of external stimulation. He began to hallucinate shadows and voices, becoming convinced someone else was present in the cave.
After 180 days, Siffre was reintroduced to the outside world. In his mind