Research results show that wound healing progresses when the same amount of time is recognized as ``a long time has passed,'' suggesting that time perception may affect the speed at which wounds heal.



As the idiom goes, ``

Illness comes from the mind, '' there is a belief that the symptoms of illness and other illnesses change depending on how you hold your mind and the way you think. While this appears to be a type of placebo effect, in which there is no effect in reality, there is also research demonstrating the influence of psychological state on disease, as published by a Harvard University psychologist in December 2023. In a recent study, it was discovered that psychological factors also influence the time it takes for a wound to heal, and that the longer you feel that time is passing, the faster the healing process will be.

Physical healing as a function of perceived time | Scientific Reports
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-50009-3

Our Perception of Time Can Actually Speed Up Wound Healing : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/our-perception-of-time-can-actually-speed-up-wound-healing



Harvard University psychologists Peter Angle and Ellen Langer developed the mind-body theory, which posits that the mind influences the body and the body influences the mind simultaneously and in both directions, as exemplified by the placebo effect. Based on this, we conducted an experiment to capture the effects of 'perceived time' and 'wound healing.'

In the experiment, small visible bruises were created on the skin of 33 participants using `` cupping therapy, '' which involves applying suction with a heated cup. This process was repeated three times, each time changing the speed of the displayed timer, having participants watch a distraction movie, and adjusting the frequency of quizzes that were asked at regular intervals. We attempted to manipulate the participants' perception of the passage of time with a trick.



For each of the three processes, the bruises created by cupping were re-observed after 28 minutes; the first was 14 minutes (half as long), the second was 28 minutes (on time), and the third was 56 minutes ( Designed to feel twice as long.

As a result, it was observed that the first time the patient recognized the passage of time more quickly than usual, the bruises healed more slowly than the second time, which was normal. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the third time, which feels longer, is more healing than the second time, even though the time elapsed is the same as the second time.

The following three graphs show the amount of healing for each recognition time, and the larger the number, the more progressed the healing of the wound. As you can see from the graph, it is clear that even if the actual time that has elapsed is the same, the longer the recognition time, the greater the amount of healing.



'Few studies have investigated whether perceived time influences physiological processes independently of the actual elapsed time,' Angle and Langer wrote. 'This study supports the hypothesis that the effect of time on the time of day is directly influenced by the perception of time, independent of the actual amount of time elapsed.'

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