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 addressing? How do our bodies perceive time, beyond just our thoughts? What role does time play in our lives? Why do we mistreat ourselves in the name of time?
Being present signifies that your complete focus is on the current moment, not the commentary in your mind about the moment that has just gone by, while you are already neglecting the one you are experiencing now by contemplating the next moment that has slipped by unnoticed. And then the subsequent moment you just bypassed, for the same reason. It swiftly becomes unfeasible.
If we are not engaged in the present, we forfeit our lives more than can be quantified. You never recover lost time. Not wasting it is crucial. But how we utilize it is not the singular aspect to contemplate. Grasping time as we perceive it is just as advantageous. What precisely is time, and how does it influence our bodies and minds?
Never enough time
One of the most prevalent justifications I hear for why individuals don’t practice mindfulness is the lack of time. Yet time is boundless. We operate as if it is fixed due to our dependence on a time-measuring mechanism known as a clock. However, that clock may malfunction, or it may shift back and forth for seasonal adjustments. Daylight savings, winter time, Greenwich mean time — these are all arbitrary measurements imposed upon us by someone thoughtful in history, to which we have become unquestioning subjects.
Humans natural time cycles.
Each of us has our unique natural time cycles.
1. Diurnal rhythms are the two daily biological cycles, influenced by day/night transitions. Their lengths vary according to periods of darkness and light and are also impacted by artificial light. Within that framework, at night, we experience 90-minute sleep cycles between deep and light sleep. Diurnal rhythms regulate our metabolism, slowing it down during sleep and accelerating it when we are active, providing energy when it’s most needed. It is most effectively operational during the day.
2. Circadian rhythms function alongside the diurnal, continuously cycling over twenty-four hours, and respond to behaviors in light and dark, as well as sleepiness and alertness. They react to internal physiological transformations like cortisol and melatonin levels. Most research on circadian rhythms emerged following a revolutionary and nearly exhausting experiment conducted by French geologist Michel Siffre, whose findings I will delve into further below.
Diurnal and circadian cycles complement each other and provide us with a sense of structure through days and nights. Both are regulated by the hypothalamus.
Time cycles change over time
My cycles have evolved over time and with aging. Yours have likely changed too. As a child, you would have slept significantly longer than you do now. Nowadays, in my seventies, I predominantly sleep a split-shift, awake for about two hours each night, enjoying the solitude and darkness. It can be a very productive time — I write, read, or catch up on some TV. At times I scroll, as many do today, seeking inspiration, perhaps for amusement or to compose a new poem or piece of writing. Last night, my scrolling sparked the motivation for this writing and also led me to create an entire poem that blossomed in my mind. Then I returned to bed and slept peacefully for another two sleep cycles and woke fully rejuvenated. This used to be a standard sleep pattern in the winter months since there were limited options during darkness.
I can only sustain this lifestyle because I retire early enough to achieve a full night’s sleep plus two hours of productive time in the middle, resulting in my nights being approximately ten hours, with ideally seven to eight hours of sleep.
When I adhered to the clock and had to work at specific times, get my sons off to school, etc., there was no such luxury as discovering my own bio-rhythm. I often arrived at work underperforming and struggled to be effective in my teaching and student assessment tasks. I did my utmost and experienced burnout once or twice as well, trying to manage everything as a single mother.
Do we inflict harm on ourselves when we enforce time regulations, or do we merely need to organize our sleep cycles more effectively? Perhaps a little of both.
I was in south-east Africa last year, acutely aware of the twelve-hour night and day diurnal rhythm, being equatorial. I found it easy to go to bed early and rise earlier than I typically would at home. I was three to four hours ahead and essentially going to sleep in the afternoon and waking in the late evening by UK time. I slept well there, even while camping on thin mats, and I fell asleep effortlessly because my body appreciated the extended darkness and the sleep opportunities for early retirement.
The cave experiment
I taught psychology in further and higher education colleges for most of my teaching