🔑 Key Takeaways
- Perception of time influences mood, stress, happiness, and excitement. We can manipulate time perception to control life's pace and enhance well-being. Fasting and supplements like Athletic Greens may affect fasting status depending on individual factors.
- Most supplements, sans sugar or protein, won't disrupt a fast. Stay hydrated, maintain electrolytes, and be aware of entrainment effects.
- Exposure to light, especially natural light, impacts melatonin production and hormone levels, influencing energy, mood, and hormone production.
- Proper circadian entrainment is essential for optimal health, influenced by external factors like day length and light exposure, and impacts hormones, mood, and behavior.
- Get outside for sunlight in the morning and afternoon, use artificial lights during the day, avoid bright lights in the evening, maintain a consistent sleep schedule, eat at consistent times, and engage in regular physical activity for proper circadian entrainment.
- Ultradian rhythms, approximately 90 minutes long, govern our sleep-wake cycles, focus, and cognitive performance. Working in 90-minute intervals can optimize brain function and productivity by releasing neurochemicals like acetylcholine and dopamine.
- Align work with natural 90-minute cycles for increased focus and performance, limit distractions, and allow for recovery time between cycles. Aim for 2-3 cycles per day, spaced by at least 2-4 hours.
- Dopamine and norepinephrine increase the frame rate of our internal clock, causing us to overestimate time, while serotonin slows it down, causing us to underestimate time
- During the first half of the day, dopamine and norepinephrine make us overestimate time, while serotonin during the second half leads to underestimation. Productivity and task structuring can benefit from understanding these patterns.
- Dopamine and norepinephrine enhance focus in early hours, while serotonin boosts creativity and flexibility in the evening. Sleep disruptions can impact neurotransmitter systems, affecting concentration and time perception. Traumatic experiences can alter time perception.
- Memory storage goes beyond neuron sequencing, incorporating rate coding for flexibility. Trauma triggers changes in time perception through dopamine and noradrenaline activation.
- Dopamine influences blink rate, which in turn affects our perception of time. Cold exposure increases dopamine, making time seem longer through faster blinks.
- Dopamine influences how quickly we perceive experiences and how long we remember them. Higher dopamine levels make experiences seem shorter in the moment but longer in memory, while lower dopamine levels make experiences seem longer in the moment but shorter in memory.
- Emotions and neural responses like dopamine and serotonin release can make time seem faster or slower
- Dopamine release during unexpected events influences our perception of time, creating functional units throughout the day via habitual routines.
- Daily habits serve as markers for time, trigger dopamine release, and help create distinct epochs in our routine, enhancing productivity.
📝 Podcast Summary
Understanding time perception and its impact on our lives
Our perception of time plays a significant role in how we evaluate our past, present, and future. It's directly linked to our neurochemical states, which control mood, stress, happiness, and excitement. We can even control the speed at which we experience life by dilating or contracting time. In the discussion on time perception, Professor Andrew Huberman also answered some questions related to fasting and time-restricted feeding, including whether supplements like Athletic Greens break a fast. For most people, including the professor himself, ingesting Athletic Greens does not break a fast due to its low carbohydrate and sugar content. However, individual resting blood glucose levels can impact this outcome. Similarly, fish oil, being a fat, may or may not break a fast depending on the context. Overall, understanding the science of time perception and utilizing the associated tools and protocols can help enhance our ability to control the pace of our lives and improve our overall well-being.
Supplements and Fasting
Most supplements, including fish oil and Athletic Greens, do not significantly raise blood glucose levels and therefore should not break a fast, as long as they do not contain sugar or protein. This is based on the logic that if something doesn't contain carbohydrates, it won't raise blood glucose. However, protein and fat can also raise blood glugose to a lesser extent. The podcast also discussed the importance of staying hydrated and getting proper electrolyte ratios, and introduced the concept of entrainment, the way our internal processes are linked to external things, such as circadian rhythms, which mark off the passage of time throughout the year. The podcast was sponsored by Athletic Greens and Element, both of which were praised for their nutritional benefits and lack of sugar.
Light affects melatonin production and hormone levels
Light, whether natural or artificial, inhibits the production of melatonin in our bodies. Melatonin plays a role in making us sleepy and regulating other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen. The amount of melatonin in our bodies correlates with day length, meaning we produce less melatonin during longer days and more during shorter days. This melatonin signal impacts our energy levels, mood, and even hormone production. For example, exposure of the skin to sunlight for about two hours a day can lead to increased testosterone and estrogen production. This entrainment of our internal state to external events, such as day length, is a crucial way our bodies adapt to the environment.
The influence of external factors on our internal biological clocks
Our internal biological clocks, or circadian rhythms, are strongly influenced by external factors such as day length and light exposure. These rhythms regulate various functions in every cell of our body and are linked to the outside light-dark cycle. Precise circadian entrainment is crucial for optimal health, as disruptions can lead to significant health issues including increased cancer risk, obesity, mental health problems, decreased wound healing, and decreased physical and mental performance. Sunscreen may not affect this entrainment process, but prioritizing skin health is still important. Our perception of time is influenced by both conscious clock-watching and slower, oscillatory events related to day length. The circadian clock, located in the brain, fires on a regular 24-hour rhythm, influencing our hormones, mood, and behavior. Understanding and optimizing circadian entrainment can have significant positive impacts on our overall health and well-being.
Maintaining Proper Light Exposure for Circadian Entrainment
Maintaining a consistent exposure to bright light throughout the day, ideally from sunlight, and avoiding bright light at night are essential for proper circadian entrainment. This can be achieved by getting outside for 10 to 30 minutes of sunlight in the morning and afternoon, using artificial lights during the day if necessary, and avoiding bright lights in the evening. Regular physical activity, eating at consistent times, and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule are also important for circadian entrainment. Disruption of the circadian clock can lead to misperception of time, as shown in studies where people in isolated environments without regular rhythms or exposure to sunlight underestimated the length of their stay and had difficulty measuring shorter time intervals.
Understanding Ultradian Rhythms for Optimal Productivity
Our bodies have various types of entrainment, including circadian and ultradian rhythms. Circadian rhythms match our internal clocks to the Earth's rotation, while ultradian rhythms, about 90 minutes long, govern our sleep and wake cycles, focus, and cognitive performance. Our brain functions optimally during 90-minute work cycles, releasing neurochemicals like acetylcholine and dopamine for focus. After this period, focus and performance decrease due to the depletion of these neurochemicals. Ultradian rhythms are essential for optimal productivity and focus, making it beneficial to structure work and other activities accordingly.
Optimize work productivity with 90-minute cycles
Our productivity and focus during work can be optimized by aligning ourselves with natural ultradian rhythms, specifically 90-minute cycles. Unlike circadian rhythms, which are hardwired and unchangeable, these 90-minute cycles can be initiated at will. By setting aside focused work periods of 90 minutes, limiting distractions, and allowing for recovery time between cycles, we can enhance our ability to focus and perform at a high level. However, it's important to note that after approximately 100-120 minutes, performance diminishes due to the way our brains process acetylcholine and dopamine. It's recommended to aim for no more than two or three 90-minute cycles per day, spaced by at least two to four hours. Additionally, understanding the different forms of time perception, including the present passage of time and prospective timing, can help us make the most of our workday.
The release of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin affects our perception of time
Our perception of time is influenced by the release of certain neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine and norepinephrine, which are closely related, increase the frame rate of our internal clock, causing us to overestimate the passage of time. On the other hand, serotonin causes us to underestimate the amount of time that has passed. These findings have been observed in both animals and humans through various experiments. For instance, when dopamine levels increase, people or animals tend to believe that a minute has passed before the actual minute is up. This effect is due to the fine slicing of time bins, making our internal clock function like a high-speed camera, perceiving more details and therefore passing time more slowly. Conversely, serotonin slows down the internal clock, causing us to underestimate the duration of time.
Neurotransmitters and Perception of Time
The levels of certain neurotransmitters in our brain, such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, significantly impact our perception of time. During the first half of the day, dopamine and norepinephrine are more prevalent, leading to an overestimation of time. In contrast, during the second half of the day, serotonin levels increase, causing an underestimation of time. These findings have implications for productivity and task structuring, suggesting that completing complex tasks or engaging in creative work may be more effective during the second half of the day due to our heightened ability to blend different aspects of memory and task utilization. Conversely, completing tasks that require high cognitive resolution, such as problem-solving or focused work, may be more efficiently accomplished during the first half of the day when our perception of time is more precise.
Neurotransmitters and Time Perception
Our brain's neurotransmitter systems, specifically dopamine and serotonin, play a crucial role in how we perceive and experience time. Dopamine and norepinephrine are dominant in the early part of the day, enhancing our ability to focus on tasks requiring precision and high resolution. Serotonin, on the other hand, dominates in the latter part of the day, boosting creativity and flexibility in time perception. Disruptions in sleep can lead to a dysregulation of these neurotransmitter systems, affecting our concentration and sense of time passage. It's essential to optimize our tasks according to these neurochemical states for better productivity and focus. Additionally, traumatic experiences can result in an overclocking effect, where time perception is significantly altered, leading to the precise recording of traumatic events in our memory system.
Memory storage and retrieval through rate coding and trauma's impact on time perception
Our memories are not just stored as a sequence of neurons that fired during an event, but also as the rate at which those neurons fired. This code, known as rate coding, allows for greater flexibility in memory storage and retrieval. Additionally, during traumatic experiences, the dopamine and noradrenaline systems are activated, leading to changes in time perception. Treatments for trauma, such as EMDR and ketamine therapy, aim to alter the rate of memory playback to help reduce the emotional weight associated with the memory. Dopamine, while often thought of as the "feel good" molecule, is actually a molecule of motivation and is closely related to noradrenaline. Both dopamine and noradrenaline are associated with heightened states of arousal.
Blink rate and dopamine levels affect time perception
Our perception of time is connected to our blink rate, which is influenced by dopamine levels. The more aroused or awake we are, the more dopamine we have, the faster we blink, and the faster we perceive time. Conversely, blinking less can slow down time perception. Cold exposure, such as taking cold showers or ice baths, increases dopamine levels and therefore alters time perception, making it seem longer. This understanding of the relationship between dopamine, blink rate, and time perception can have practical applications, such as intentionally blinking more or less to manipulate time perception in various situations. The study "Time Dilates After A Spontaneous Blinking" by Tairhoon et al. published in Current Biology further supports these findings.
Dopamine's impact on time perception
Our brain's production of dopamine significantly impacts both our real-time perception and our retrospective memory of experiences. When dopamine levels are high, as during enjoyable, varied activities, we tend to perceive those experiences as passing quickly. However, when we look back on those experiences, we remember them as having taken a longer time than they seemed to at the moment. Conversely, when dopamine levels are low, as during boring or unpleasant experiences, we perceive those experiences as taking longer in the moment but remember them as having been shorter than we expected. This phenomenon, where our brain stores information more efficiently for experiences with higher dopamine levels, has been observed in various scientific studies. It's essential to understand this relationship between dopamine and time perception to appreciate the paradoxical nature of how we experience and remember various aspects of our lives.
Our perception of time is influenced by emotions and neural responses
Our perception of time is not just determined by circadian clocks or the passing of seconds and minutes. It's also influenced by our levels of excitement and the release of neuromodulators like dopamine and serotonin. These neuromodulators can make time seem to pass faster or slower, depending on the situation. For example, if we have many new experiences in a place or with a person, we may feel as if we've spent more time there or with them than we actually have. This perception can be explained by the release of dopamine in areas of the brain like the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area, which is associated with surprise and reward. This study on sports viewing provides evidence for this theory, as it showed that surprise was associated with the release of dopamine in these areas of the brain. So, in essence, our perception of time is not a fixed entity, but rather a dynamic experience shaped by our emotions and neural responses.
Dopamine and Perception of Time
Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with motivation and reward, plays a crucial role in our perception of time. According to a study, dopamine release not only occurs when we experience desired outcomes but also during unexpected events. This flexibility of dopamine as a "currency" in the brain influences how we perceive the passage of time. Regardless of the cause of dopamine release, its frequency serves as markers that predict the frame rate of our perception of experiences. Therefore, incorporating habitual routines at regular intervals throughout the day, which trigger dopamine release, can help divide our day into functional units. This not only provides motivation and feelings of reward but also governs our perception of time.
Segmenting time through daily habits
Our daily routines and habits play a significant role in how we perceive and experience time. According to a study by Anthony et al. (2020), engaging in specific habits can serve as markers for the passage of time by triggering dopamine release. By intentionally structuring our day with habits, we can segment it into functional units and improve our overall performance. For example, by establishing habits at specific times during the day, we can create distinct epochs in our routine. This approach can help us make the most of our time and enhance our productivity. If you're interested in exploring this concept further, I recommend checking out the book "Your Brain is a Time Machine" by Dean Bonamano. Additionally, don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Instagram for more neuroscience insights and tools.