“Where does the time go?” and “time goes by too quickly” are common refrains at the end of a weekend or calendar year.

While there is no way to actually slow down time, there may be a reason why it flies by so fast – and your strict weekly routine may be the culprit. Rigidity and a lack of novelty can actually make it feel like your life is going by faster than you want.

In a viral post on X, retired neurosurgeon Dr. Brian Hoeflinger shared insight on routine’s impact on the passage of time and ways to make it feel like it’s moving slower.

“Repetitive daily routines stop the brain from recording clear detailed memories,” Hoeflinger wrote on X. “When every day looks the same, your brain does not track time the same as a clock does. It tracks change. If nothing new happens then days, months, and years start to blur together.”

“This is known as time compression. When life lacks variety, your brain compresses past days together, making it feel like time is sped up,” he continued.

To make time feel like it’s passing more slowly – and like your days are not so mundane – you can simply try new things “or change up your routine,” Hoeflinger told HuffPost.

According to Hoeflinger, the best way to disrupt time compression is by doing new things. This could be trying a new hobby, travelling to a bucket-list destination, taking a new route home or simply making a different recipe for dinner.

“You’ve got to change things up in your life a little bit … so it’ll stick in your brain and be put into your permanent memory,” he said.

When you do something different, “it makes an incident in your brain, so you remember it. And by remembering that, it helps you feel like your day was longer, like there was more going on in your day,” Hoeflinger said.

Think about it: When you look back on a year with lots of events and travel, you probably say something like “wow, I did so much” versus a year of nothing where the days melt into each other.

It may sound counterintuitive since days that involve more activity tend to fly by in the moment, but these days seem slower when you look back because your brain makes a note of each of the occurrences, Hoeflinger explained.

Compare this to when you do the same things again and again. There is no individual memory that sticks out, which makes it feel like the day went by and you weren’t even in it.

“When you experience something new … your brain responds with a release of dopamine, and that can help us focus in and pay more attention to the experience that we’re having,” added Tim Bono, a lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. “So, you can think of novelty [as] interrupting the daily schema or expectation of life.”

You’ll also have more memories of your life if you take an active role in it, Hoeflinger said. “The day will feel slower and more meaningful as opposed to if you’re not actively doing new things.”

Bono said, “We can’t change the actual passage of time. The days and months are going to go by … but we do have some agency and control over the depth and meaning of the experiences of how that time feels to us, especially when we were looking back.”

The first step to creating more memories and slowing down the passage of time is to simply break up your routine.

“Try to do something different – go to a different restaurant or try new meals at home … change up your wardrobe instead of dressing the same,” Hoeflinger suggested.

Any amount of novelty will create new memories and make your days feel longer and more action-packed, even if that new memory is simply joining a different gym class or working from a coffee shop instead of your home office.

“I think that the most important way to increase our happiness is to savor whatever time we do have,” Bono said.

Instead of sticking to your weekly routine of errands, chores and work, be sure to add in time with family and friends.

“That’s the kind of novelty that allows you to slow down and savor life versus feeling like you’re on this treadmill and that you’re just constantly having to run from one thing to the next,” Bono said. “Those are usually the mundane things that we’re chasing.”

“We have to give ourselves permission to … get a little bit behind on those, so that we can prioritize the stuff that’s more important. And I would put social connection and social experiences at the top of that list,” Bono added.

This may look like making happy hour plans with a co-worker instead of immediately rushing home or inviting your cousin and their kids over for dinner and a playdate.

Focusing on the moment in front of you is an important way to savor time, too. This is true whether you are trying something new or not.

It isn’t easy. Many of us are on our phones while watching TV or thinking about a long to-do list as we play with our kids and grandkids – “but I think if you find that you focus on that moment more … that’ll form a memory in your mind that will stick with you more, and it’ll make your day more meaningful,” Hoeflinger said.

Focusing on a moment allows your brain to create an incident in your day, which then makes your day feel longer and like you accomplished something, he said.

This type of focus is a form of mindfulness, which allows you to slow down and home in on what’s happening now.

Along those same lines is relaxation. If you are always rushing around, the day flies by, Hoeflinger said. “So, slow down.”

Switching up your routine and trying new things helps it feel like you have more time in a very finite life, and it also helps you live a more enjoyable life.

“Just do something exciting or something different,” Hoeflinger stressed. “That all helps you feel like time’s not slipping by so fast because those incidents, those memories, will stick in your mind. And when you look back upon it, you’ll go, ‘Wow, that was a great day.’”

“I heard some quote a long time ago – ‘the biggest lie we can tell ourselves is that we’ll always have more time,’” said Bono.

The reality is we don’t always have more time. You likely think you can visit that new restaurant next month (and then never go) or you can see that friend in the winter instead of the fall (and then never do that, either). “Being reminded that time is a scarce resource, as uncomfortable as that might feel, is actually good for our mental health,” Bono said.

This helps inspire people to get out and do the thing they’ve been putting off.

“Being reminded of that reminds us that life is precious, and there’s no time like the present to seize the opportunities to reach out and have those meaningful experiences in our lives,” said Bono.