We perceive time in the measure of change and movement. A subjective sense of time improves depending on the perception and integration of physical processes. Some experiments have been conducted on how our subjective sense of time will be affected if we do not perceive any sense of change and movement from the environment. Subjects who were kept in an isolated environment in water tanks thought that time was passing much slower than it was. In isolation tanks, the perception that time passes more slowly is because there are no stimuli to distract.

Apart from environmental stimuli, our perceptions of body time and changes in body rhythm also help us create subjective time. In cases of relaxation in which the body’s parasympathetic system is activated, and in states of arousal in which the sympathetic system is activated, time passes at different speeds. Researches show that patients suffering from depression and anxiety disorders often tend to overestimate times. It has also been observed in research that time expands and is perceived more than it actually is, in situations that cause intense fear, accompanied by a sense of social isolation, and where there is an inner calm. That is how we are experiencing the pandemic time right now.