Dear Reader,
I read an article in the Health Edition of The Week, 100 Days of Solitude.
The article revolves around the experiences of one writer, also an experimental subject, who chooses to be in an isolation chamber. The objective of the experiment is to observe the reactions of a human body when exposed to a timeless environment. I must say, the observations are quite interesting with the author saying "it was like two days of one day". It means, for the writer, 48 hours seemed like 24, while in the isolation chamber. She also says that she estimated a 6 - 8 hour slot as 2 hours.
My first thoughts after reading this article - time is an illusion that we, as human beings, have created for ourselves and that time moves faster when an individual is alone. We alter our body clocks with the conscious understanding of time. In the absence of which, the body sleeps for 17 hours and is awake for almost 34 hours. So the so called ideal "sleep-wake cycle", that we follow currently, is not natural!! Are the day, week, month and year, all an illusion too?
If I wouldn't have read the article, I would have presumed that time moves slower while you are alone. That is, you only spend 10 mins and it seems like 30. But the experiment has proved results the other way and it beats me!! The only other question that I have is whether the subject will experience any change in his / her characteristics if he / she continues with such experiments for a long period of time. I'd like to compare "staying alone" in life to this experiment, fully aware of the fact that the conditions are not exactly the same. If an individual stays alone for a very long period of his / her life, does it change any of the social characteristics in them? Do they then find it difficult to relate to others and their experiences? What do you think?
The article revolves around the experiences of one writer, also an experimental subject, who chooses to be in an isolation chamber. The objective of the experiment is to observe the reactions of a human body when exposed to a timeless environment. I must say, the observations are quite interesting with the author saying "it was like two days of one day". It means, for the writer, 48 hours seemed like 24, while in the isolation chamber. She also says that she estimated a 6 - 8 hour slot as 2 hours.
My first thoughts after reading this article - time is an illusion that we, as human beings, have created for ourselves and that time moves faster when an individual is alone. We alter our body clocks with the conscious understanding of time. In the absence of which, the body sleeps for 17 hours and is awake for almost 34 hours. So the so called ideal "sleep-wake cycle", that we follow currently, is not natural!! Are the day, week, month and year, all an illusion too?
If I wouldn't have read the article, I would have presumed that time moves slower while you are alone. That is, you only spend 10 mins and it seems like 30. But the experiment has proved results the other way and it beats me!! The only other question that I have is whether the subject will experience any change in his / her characteristics if he / she continues with such experiments for a long period of time. I'd like to compare "staying alone" in life to this experiment, fully aware of the fact that the conditions are not exactly the same. If an individual stays alone for a very long period of his / her life, does it change any of the social characteristics in them? Do they then find it difficult to relate to others and their experiences? What do you think?
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