Inside STAT: What day is it? Watch how pandemic stress alters your perception of time

(HYACINTH EMPINADO AND THERESA GAFFNEY/STAT)

Have you, like so many others living through this pandemic, found yourself wondering how it could be August already only to later wonder how we still have four long months left in the year? It turns out that crises like the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing quarantine enhance what's known as time blindness. We get a lot of our sense of time from cues outside our home: For a typical workday, for instance, going to work at a certain time and leaving work to come home later in the day help define what eight hours feels like. But when working from home full time, not only are many of these cues lost, but many routines for going to work on time or keeping appointments are also lost — which all make it difficult to gauge how much time is passing. Learn more about time blindness — and how you can help counter its effects — in a new video from STAT's Hyacinth Empinado and Theresa Gaffney.