The secret of a longer and happier life is hidden in Einstein's theory of relativity
The other day I read a curious and amusing "theory" of slowing down time in everyday life. Her author made an analogy with the famous "twins paradox" of the Special Theory of Relativity (STR).
This is not only amusing, but instructive. Read and draw conclusions yourself ...
Time seems to fly when we talk to attractive people or when we do what we like. And it slows down when we do something that seems boring to us.
Perhaps this is something more than it seems at first glance.
It turns out that our everyday experience of time is consistent with the studies of Einstein and his Theory of Relativity.
In particular, it is consistent with a phenomenon called Time Dilation.
Time Dilation
If you saw the film "Interstellar" (Interstellar), there is an episode in which three astronauts are on a large spaceship. Two of them sit down on a smaller amphibious ship to descend to a planet with a very strong gravitational field.
They remain on the surface of this planet in just a few minutes. During this time, they encounter huge waves and, barely surviving, return to their amphibious vehicle on a large spacecraft that is waiting for them in orbit. Returning, they discover that the third astronaut has been waiting for them for many years.
This is an example of slowing down time.
All astronauts were in the usual course of time, but in different conditions. The astronaut, who was subjected to a lesser gravitational force in a larger spacecraft, lived for several years, and those who visited the gravitational planet - a few minutes.
Umomorately! Is not it?
Why is this happening?
For people who are subject to different gravitational forces, time flows at different speeds, although, according to their own experience, time seems to pass at a normal speed.
But not only gravity can cause a slowdown in time. Speed can also do this.
For example, if one of the twins remains on Earth, and the other one travels for a while on a spaceship moving at high speed, then on return it will be discovered that the twin brother left on Earth lived longer than the space traveler.
This is called the "twins paradox".
So what is slowing down time?
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, Time Dilation occurs if you fall into the conditions of great gravity or move at high speed, then upon returning to Earth you will be relatively younger than the person who stayed there.
Example
When the British astronaut Tim Peake (Tim Peake) went to the International Space Station (ISS), which was for 6 months, he experienced a slowdown in the following ways:
He was in a state of lesser gravity (gravity is stronger, the closer to the center of the Earth), so the time for him was accelerated towards those who remained on Earth.
It moved very fast, as it revolved around the Earth, so time for it slowed down relative to those who stayed on Earth.
When summing up, the slowing down of time due to the speed of orbit of the orbit slightly outweighed the acceleration of time due to the change in gravity and therefore it returned relatively younger than the people remaining on Earth.
What does this have to do with our everyday experience of the times?
Well, this phenomenon of slowing down time is similar to how we experience time in everyday life.
When we move fast (with work or ideas) or when we are attracted to someone or something that is attractive to us, we are experiencing a relatively slower time than those who do not do anything on Earth.
Really?
To explain what is meant, we need to highlight the specific hours with which we measure time.
Firstly, there is the clock of the Earth. This is any clock on the surface of the planet Earth. For example, the clock of Big Ben in London.
In the above example with Tim Peak, we compared the time on the earth clock with the time measured by the clock on the International Space Station.
But now suppose that in the head of each person there are imaginary "head hours".
When you feel that time passes by or slowly drags on, you experience a discrepancy between the clock and the clock of the Earth.
Example
Suppose you spend a few hours talking to someone attractive to you. As the Big Ben clock tick, your watch is slower, just like the clock near the black hole (where the big gravity is) will go relatively slower than Big Ben.
But in your own head, you experience time, as usual during your all-consuming conversation. It does not look like the time has slowed for you at the moment. But when you look up at the Big Ben clock, and your head watch feels like, say, 30 minutes have passed, then you suddenly notice that, according to the earthly time, passed, say, 2 hours. Time of the Earth flew, while you were talking with a person pleasant to you.
And the same is true when you are completely engrossed in work or succumbed to the "gravitational" pull of sleep. The Earth's time seems to pass relatively quickly.
So what?
Well, on the one hand, it can be argued that by doing things that attract us, and moving faster, life will fly by.
And, in the long term, this may mean that we will reach our end, it would seem, faster, because we live only for a certain number of "earthly clocks".
But what if people really have to live for a certain number of "head hours" and not earthly clocks?
Suppose you are going to live for 100 years on your "head clock". Spending time with attractive people, moving faster, resting in a dream and absorbing yourself with the work that interests you, you will live relatively more years, measured by the Earth clock, maybe 150 years or so!
Perhaps Tim Peak has returned from the International Space Station even younger than we think, because he probably had a great time there.
Finally
If you do the following things ...
Spend more time with attractive people,
Spend more time on what interests you,
Move faster (but do not rush!),
Sleep more,
Do everything else that makes time on Earth fly fast,
... then you will live longer when you measure the length of your life by the clock of the Earth (which we all do).
Finally, a quotation from Einstein himself on this subject:
"Put your hand on the hot stove for a minute, and it will seem like an hour has passed. Sit with a beautiful girl for one hour, and you will feel that only a minute has passed. This is a relativity »
... and the episode from the movie "Deep Blue Sea" (Deep Blue Sea):
P.S.
Of course, this is just an amusing "theory", which in fact has no direct relationship to the Special Theory of Relativity. But, it captivates with its analogy and vitality. There's something about it! Is not it?