by A group of researchers from Cornell University (United States) discovered that the momentary perception of time is not continuous, but can stretch or shrink with each heartbeat.
Research provides evidence that the heart is one of the brain’s important timekeepers and plays a key role in the sensation of the passage of timean idea contemplated since ancient times, said Adam K. Anderson, professor of psychology.
“Our research shows that the moment-to-moment experience of time is synchronized with and changes with the duration of the heartbeat,” Anderson said.
The results revealed what the researchers called “temporary wrinkles.” When the beat preceding a tone was shorter, the tone was perceived as longer. When the preceding beat was longer, the duration of the sound seemed shorter.
“These observations consistently demonstrate that cardiac dynamics, even within a few beats, are related to the temporal decision-making process.”, explained the authors of the scientific study.
The study also shows that the brain influences the heart. After hearing tones, study participants focused their attention on the sounds. That “orienting response” changed his heart rate, affecting his experience of time.
“The heartbeat is a rhythm that the brain uses to give us the sensation that time is passing,” Anderson said. “And it’s not linear: it’s constantly expanding and contracting,” she added.
This connection between the perception of time and the heartbeat has its origin in bioenergetics.which helps the brain manage effort and resources based on changes in body states, including heart rate.
Research shows, according to Anderson, that in subsecond intervals too brief for conscious thought or feeling, the heart regulates the experience of the present. “The pure influence of the heart, from beat to beat, helps create a sense of time,” Anderson explained.
Tips to take care of heart health
osde In its health and personal care section, it mentions some tips that prevent diseases that directly affect heart health. Before following these recommendations, it is pertinent to have the approval of a health professional who is an expert in the subject.
- Go to the doctor: A patient, even if he is healthy, must go to the doctor at least once a year to have the check-ups that the health professional deems pertinent.
- Keep cholesterol levels under control: When this substance has excessive amounts, it can adhere to the walls of the arteries, preventing the free circulation of blood, which in the long term can trigger a heart attack.
- For this it is pertinent to eat a diet rich in fiber, fruits and vegetables and refrain from eating ultra-processed products or products loaded with saturated or trans fats. “In the event that cholesterol values are elevated, medication will have to be used to lower them. Today the medication is very effective and has few adverse effects”.
- Maintain a healthy weight: obese or overweight people are at greater risk of triggering this or other pathologies. That is why it is pertinent to consult with a nutritionist so that he can design the appropriate nutritional plan for each patient.
- Smoke: This habit will always bring complications not only for the health of said organ, but for others, as well as being one of the main triggers for lung cancer. “Two years after quitting smoking, the chances of having cancer, a heart attack or a stroke drop to 50 percent,” explains a cardiologist consulted by said portal.
*With information from Europa Press.
