大自然会改变你的时间体验Being in Nature Has a Profound Effect on How You Experience Time

Do you ever get that feeling that there aren’t enough hours in the day? That time is somehow racing away from you, and it is impossible to fit everything in. But then, you step outside into the countryside and suddenly everything seems slower, more relaxed, like time has somehow changed. It’s not just you – recent research showed nature can regulate our sense of time.

你是否有过这样的感觉：一天中的时间远远不够用？时间仿佛从你身边飞速流逝，根本无法完成所有的事情。然而，当你走进乡村，置身于大自然之中时，一切似乎都变得缓慢而放松，仿佛时间本身都发生了改变。这并非只是你的错觉 —— 近期的研究表明，自然能调节我们对时间的感知。

For many of us, the combined demands of work, home and family mean that we are always feeling like we don’t have enough time. Time poverty has also been exacerbated by digital technologies. Permanent connectivity extends working hours and can make it difficult to switch off from the demands of friends and family.

对我们中的许多人来说，工作、家庭和生活多重压力常让我们觉得时间不够用。而数字技术发展更加剧了 “时间贫困”，永久在线状态延长工作时间，还让我们难从亲友需求中解脱。

Recent research suggests that the antidote to our lack of time may lie in the natural world. Psychologist Richardo Correia, at the University of Turku in Finland, found that being in nature may change how we experience time and, perhaps, even give us the sense of time abundance.

近期研究表明，解决时间不足问题的良方或许藏在自然中。芬兰图尔库大学的心理学家里卡多·科雷亚发现，置身自然环境可能改变我们对时间的体验，甚至让我们有时间充裕之感。

Correia examined research which compared people’s experiences of time when they performed different types of tasks in urban and natural environments. These studies consistently showed that people report a sense of expanded time when they were in nature compared to when they were in an urban environment. For example, people are more likely to perceive a walk in the countryside as longer than a walk of the same length in the city. Similarly, people report perceiving time as passing more slowly while performing tasks in natural green environments than in urban environments.

科雷亚研究了在城市和自然环境中进行不同类型任务时人们对时间的体验。这些研究一致显示，与城市环境相比，人们在自然环境中会感觉时间延展。比如，人们更可能觉得在乡村散步比在城市走同样长的路时间更长。同样，人们在自然绿色环境里执行任务时，感觉时间流逝比在城市环境中更慢。

Nature seems to slow and expand our sense of time.

自然似乎能够放慢并延展我们对时间的感知。

It’s not just our sense of time in the moment which appears to be altered by the natural world, it’s also our sense of the past and future. Previous research shows that spending time in nature helps to shift our focus from the immediate moment towards our future needs. So rather than focusing on the stress of the demands on our time, nature helps us to see the bigger picture. This can help us to prioritize our actions so that we meet our long – term goals rather than living in a perpetual state of “just about keeping our head above water”. This is in part because spending time in nature appears to make us less impulsive, enabling us to delay instant gratification in favour of long – term rewards.

自然不仅改变了我们当下的时间感知，还影响了我们对过去和未来的感知。先前的研究表明，花时间在自然中有助于将我们的注意力从当下的瞬间转移到未来的需求上。因此，自然帮助我们从对时间需求的压力中解脱出来，让我们看到更广阔的图景。这有助于我们优先考虑行动，以实现我们的长期目标，而不是一直处于“勉强维持生计”的状态。部分原因是，花时间在自然中似乎让我们变得不那么冲动，使我们能够为了长期回报而延迟即时满足。

Why does nature affect our sense of time?

自然为何会影响我们的时间感知？

Spending time in nature is known to have many benefits for health and wellbeing. Having access to natural spaces such as beaches, parks and woodlands is associated with reduced anxiety and depression, improved sleep, reduced levels of obesity and cardiovascular disease, and improved wellbeing. Some of these benefits may explain why being in nature alters our experience of time.

众所周知，花时间在自然中对健康和福祉有许多益处。能够接触海滩、公园和林地等自然空间与减少焦虑和抑郁、改善睡眠、降低肥胖和心血管疾病的水平以及提高福祉有关。其中一些益处或许可以解释为什么置身于自然会改变我们对时间的体验。

The way we experience time is shaped by our internal biological state and the events going on in the world around us. As a result, emotions such as stress, anxiety and fear can distort our sense of the passage of time. The relaxing effect of natural environments may counter stress and anxiety, resulting in a more stable experience of time.

我们对时间的体验受到我们内部的生物状态和周围世界中发生的事情的影响。因此，压力、焦虑和恐惧等情绪可能会扭曲我们对时间流逝的感知。自然环境的放松效应可以抵消压力和焦虑，从而带来更稳定的时间体验。

Indeed, the absence of access to nature during COVID-19 may help to explain why people’s sense of time became so distorted during the pandemic lockdowns.

的确，在新冠疫情期间，人们无法接触自然，这或许可以解释为什么在疫情期间，人们的时间观会变得如此扭曲。

In the short term, being away from the demands of modern day life may provide the respite needed to re-prioritise life, and reduce time pressure by focusing on what actually needs to be done. In the longer term, time in nature may help to enhance our memory and attention capacity, making us better able to deal with the demands on our time.

从短期来看，远离现代生活的压力可能为我们提供了重新审视生活优先事项所需的喘息空间，并通过专注于真正需要做的事情来减少时间压力。从长期来看，自然中的时间可能有助于增强我们的记忆和注意力，使我们更能应对时间上的需求。

Accessing nature

接触自然

Getting out into nature may sound like a simple fix, but for many people, particularly those living in urban areas, nature can be hard to access. Green infrastructure such as trees, woodlands, parks and allotments in and around towns and cities are essential to making sure the benefits of time in nature are accessible to everyone.

走进自然听起来像是一个简单的解决办法，但对于许多人来说，尤其是那些生活在城市地区的人来说，接触自然可能并不容易。在城镇和城市及其周边的树木、林地、公园和菜园等绿色基础设施对于确保每个人都能享受自然中的时间所带来的益处至关重要。

If spending time in nature isn’t possible for you, there are other ways that you can regain control of your time. Start by closely examining how you use time throughout your week. Auditing your time can help you see where time is being wasted and to identify action to help you to free up more time in your life. Alternatively, try to set yourself some boundaries in how you use time. This could be limiting when you access emails and social media, or it could be booking in time in your calendar to take a break. Taking control of your time and how you use it can help to you overcome the sense that time is running away from you.

如果你无法走进自然，还有其他方法可以帮助你重新掌控时间。首先，仔细审视你一周内的时间使用情况。对时间进行审计可以帮助你看到时间被浪费在何处，并识别出有助于在生活中腾出更多时间的行动。或者，试着在时间使用上给自己设定一些界限。这可以是限制查看电子邮件和社交媒体的时间，也可以是在日历上安排休息时间。掌控你的时间以及你如何使用它，可以帮助你克服时间正在从你身边溜走的感觉。