There are a few times in live where people really wish they could slow down time.

When your kids are young, when you’re losing someone you love, maybe your last couple semesters of college.

Now, scientists say we could have been at least giving ourselves the illusion of slowing down time all along.

But, you might not like how.

Scientists have found that our perception of time slows down while exercising.

Author study Dr. Andrew Mark Edwards says it’s not just a figment of your imagination.

“I have long been interested in how people perceive the passing of time and whether this is impacted by particular events. In the case of exercise, time seems to drag in certain circumstances and yet at others moves very fast.”

Edwards and his team asked 33 participants to gauge how long they spent cycling in the gym. They were also asked to assess their perception of time before, during, and after exercise.

The trials included solo trials, trials with a passive avatar, and trials involving racing an active opponent.

Across the board and regardless of the type of trial, participants perceived a slower passage of time during physical activity. This was also true no matter how quickly or slowly they cycled.

Edwards hopes the results could be used to make training regiments more engaging and effective.

“This finding has important implications for healthy exercise choices and also for optimal performance.”

More research will have to be done to verify this is the case for people regardless of their physical shape going in, as well as other factors.

Still, it is interesting that our perception of time passing can be so easily warped.

“The main strands of the work are to see how we can motivate people to engage with exercise and avoid/mitigate negative associations with time appearing to move slowly.”

I bet this is true of sitting in meetings or church or classes that aren’t interesting, too.

Just a guess.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.