Are you always late? Doctors say you might be suffering little-known condition
ARE you always running late for everything?
You could be suffering from a little-known phenomenon known as time blindness.
It refers to the inability to recognise when time has passed or to estimate how long something will take, according to Cleveland Clinic.
So you might find yourself dashing for the bus at the last minute, failing to meet deadlines, or thinking a task will take you 30 minutes when in fact it will take double.
While everyone will experience this to some degree throughout their lives, time blindness is a persistent skewed perception of time, experts say.
It is not a medical condition per see, but doctors use it as a way of talking about the concept of losing track of time.
The NHS says it is a common symptom of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Those with the condition often feel stuck in the present and find themselves “hyper-focused” on a single activity.
They may lack the inner sense of minutes, hours and days that people with typical neurology often have, PsychCentral reports.
Dr Michael Manos, a paediatric behavioural health specialist, said: “Everybody has time blindness at times.
“We all can get caught up in something and get ‘in the zone’.
“Some people with ADHD, though, are more prone to having difficulty being able to judge how long something will take to do or to lose track of time.”
He explained that time blindness happens because our brains constantly shift between two types of attention – automatic and directed.
Automatic attention is your default mode, or as Dr Manos calls it, your happy place.
It’s what you use when you’re doing something you find interesting and it allows time to fly by.
Directed attention on the other hand is what we use when we’re doing things we have to do, but not necessarily want to.
As expected, it takes far more effort, particularly for people with ADHD.
‘IN THE ZONE’
Dr Manos, from Cleveland, Ohio, said: “When you’re experiencing time blindness, it’s because you’re running on automatic attention.
“You’re into something and you’re excited about it. So, you’re not noticing the time.
“People with ADHD tend to have very strong automatic attention – when they are doing something they like, they can more easily go deep into hyperfocus.
“But their brains generally find it more difficult to use directed attention.
“So, many people with ADHD will actively avoid situations where they need to use directed attention because it’s just so hard to use.”
Sharon Saline, a licensed clinical psychologist, explained that the brain uses memory, attention and dopamine to accurately predict time – and these are all things people with ADHD often have problems with.
Two reviews of studies published in 2019 and 2021 found that sufferers had challenges with estimating the passage of time, assessing how long a task would take, and saying how time they had spent on a task after it was complete.
They also struggled with planning for future tasks, and experiencing time passing more quickly than it actually does.
There are several doctor-approved methods for improving time blindness, PsychCentral says. These include:
- Medication (your GP or specialist will advise on the best for you)
- Making time visible (e.g. clocks, watches, alarms)
- Recording your time (e.g. how long it takes you to do something)
- Scheduling breaks (e.g. walks, snacks)
- Planning your day backwards (e.g. if you have a meeting at 10am and it takes 30 minutes to get there, you need to leave the house at 10am, so you should have breakfast at 9.30am, and get ready at 9am etc.)
- Assuming everything will take twice as long
- Listening to music
- Time management phone apps (e.g. RescueTime, Focus@Will, Due)
- Setting goals for yourself (e.g. if you do that, then you can do this)