Could it be due to our knowledge of our own mortality as we age? Like a subconcious kick in the pants reminding us that you’re here for a good time, not a long time, as the song goes? We don’t fully recognize our mortality when we’re still young’us, so maybe…
Or it could just be the wine is making me all philosophical again. 
If it helps, taking LSD makes time seem to go by at a crawl - 5 minutes can feel like an hour. Kids often seem like they are tripping, maybe there’s something there…
muttrox Body temperature? Body temperature? I would like to see how these scientists linked body temp to time perception? I mean, seems like a stretch, no? There’s so many things that change over time, how can you possibily link these two together? And I’m confused. You seem to be saying two contradictory things. Warmer = slower time, but at the end you say “older colder” = slower time.
Puky, like I said, I might have it all reversed in that warmer might be colder or faster.
As for perception – I can’t remember how it was measured, but at the time it struck me as a reasonably approach. It wasn’t hard physics, but it seemed a legit way to qualitatively see if there was a difference.
Now that I’ve been challenged, I had to resort to searching the web!
http://courses.washington.edu/phys208/time.perception.html
“Temperature of the body. The lower temperature usually is correlated with higher clock speeds. Researchers have found that 2-3 degrees of body temperature have significant changes in time perception. [Heating head caused a 20% change in perception of time interval.]
Models and tests have been proposed to explain these phenomena. It’s believed that the concentration of dopamine regulates the bodies clocks. Add dopamine and the clock runs faster. Direct checks of dopamine levels for the above circumstances are consistent with this theory.”
http://www.stariq.com/Main/Articles/P0000995.HTM
“One of the well-documented changes during the menstrual cycle is body temperature, which in turn affects the perception of time. The higher one’s body temperature, the faster time seems to pass, a fact that explains some of the disorientation one experiences with a fever.”
I didn’t see cites in these articles, but I think this establishes that it’s not a completely crazy idea. The first link in particular seems to address the question.
ah…now that’s a bit better. that’s a really interesting theory. So, body temperature is related to dopamine levels, which in turn affect one’s perception of time? Interesting. I would never have guessed a verifiable biological component to this. I’ll have to look this up some more…
Yeah, neat, huh? I always went with the percentage of life or familiarity of experience sort of thing, but I like this better. Particularly in combination with some of the more psychological factors, it seems like a powerful explanation.
When you are younger, there are less problems and issues that occupy your time than when you are older. As we grow older and take on more responsibilities, and as our thought processes crystalize, time seems to fly by because within the same twenty-four hours we have much more to deal with.
If you tell a child to mow the lawn between noon and one he should be able to do it. But if you ask him to mow the lawn and do his homework within the same time frame, I am certain that he will complain that there is not enough time.
This is the same process that happens as we age.