Body processes

Sense of Time – Function, Task & Diseases

Sense of time

The sense of time describes the correct estimation of time periods in minutes and hours. Thinking further, the perception of time can also apply to a feeling for the day of the week, the time of day or the duration of a task.

What is the sense of time?

An adult person is able to distinguish a few minutes from several by feel. He can estimate how much time he will need for a task or how much time he has invested in it. In addition, he can roughly estimate what time it is, what day of the week he is and how much longer he has to work today without having to look at the clock or the calendar. This judgmental ability is called time perception or sense of time.

Babies and toddlers have no sense of time at all, but older children are already able to understand clocks and calendars. From elementary school age, for example, the sense of time develops, although there can still be major discrepancies between the child’s assessment and reality. Teenagers, on the other hand, have a very good sense of time, similar to that of adults.

A perception of time also occurs in many mammals: herd animals, for example, often stand at the feeding point at feeding time, if only because a leader knows that food will soon be available.

function & task

The sense of time in humans is created by various influences. The methods of learning differ from each other. First of all, based on the incident light and the position of the sun, people can roughly determine whether it is morning or afternoon, noon, evening or night. It is assumed that other mammals also use these characteristics as a guide. 

In contrast to this, humans also have the clock to help them and use a calendar, which results in a learned sense of time. Learning to count minutes and hours and a sense of the day of the week may take time, but since these skills are learned in elementary school, any teenager can be sure of them.

The sense of time helps people plan their day and estimate how long planned activities will take. Of course, his own experience also helps him here. Of course, most people still have to look at the clock when it comes to planning down to the minute, but it is not difficult for an adult, for example, to estimate the duration of the commute and to be correct.

However, the sense of time also helps people to control important aspects of everyday life, such as food intake. Depending on one’s habit, one’s sense of time will eventually tell people that it’s time for the next meal. In this way, people can manage their everyday life thanks to their perception of time and plan realistically what they can achieve within a certain time window and what they have to delegate.

Of course, the sense of time also helps with the feeling of boredom. Although this can distort the perception of time and make a boring phase appear even longer than it really is, the sense of time also helps to realistically assess how long it will be before you can turn to other things again.

Diseases & Ailments

The perception of time itself is innate. In the course of child development, sooner or later a day-night rhythm sets in . Even children can tell if it is morning or evening. The sense of time, based on a clock or a calendar, on the other hand, is learned and presupposes that people are mentally able to learn and understand such content. As a result , people with learning disabilities or intellectual disabilities may not be able to acquire the same sense of time as a person with normal learning abilities. 

It can also happen with degenerative diseases that people’s perception of time changes with them. This is characteristic of diseases such as Alzheimer’s or dementia , whereby the sense of time deteriorates with the severity and progress of the disease. Also, it doesn’t dilute to the same extent in every patient. Some are still able to estimate the time relatively accurately, the perception of time remains intact. Others, on the other hand, are so badly affected by their illness that it can be assumed that they no longer have any sense of time and that a minute can seem like several hours.

A similar, but fortunately only temporary, distortion of the sense of time can also result from the use of medication or substance abuse. When these substances affect human consciousness , it is often observed that the perception of time is distorted. Anyone who has already received general anesthesia may be familiar with this effect – in the recovery room it is usually not possible to estimate what time it is and how long the procedure and the time it took to wake up until you look at a clock. However, if the effect of such substances wears off, the sense of time returns.

Lisa Newlon
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Hello! I am Lisa Newlon, and I am a medical writer and researcher with over 10 years of experience in the healthcare industry. I have a Master’s degree in Medicine, and my deep understanding of medical terminology, practices, and procedures has made me a trusted source of information in the medical world.