Picture three clocks on the wall after the silence. One runs in minutes. One runs in hours. One runs in days. The body has all three, and they do not wait for each other. A hurt leaves on the slowest clock, not the fastest.
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Adrenaline left, minutes after the alarm, if half goes every three minutes.
The first clock is adrenaline. It is in the blood within seconds of the alarm, and the body clears about half of what is left every two to three minutes. Ten minutes after the alarm, most of it is gone. That is why a shock can leave the hands shaking and then, quite soon, still.
The fright0 minutes
↓→
Ten minutes later
Ten minutes after a fright, how much adrenaline is left?
Not much. Half goes every few minutes, so most of it has gone.
Right. Ten minutes is three or four halvings, and three halvings leave an eighth. The hands have stopped shaking before the mind has stopped racing.
None at all.
Not yet. Each halving leaves a half, so there is always a little left. After ten minutes it is a small share, and the body no longer feels it.
Nearly all of it. Ten minutes is not long.
Not yet. Ten minutes is three or four halvings, and three halvings leave an eighth. Adrenaline is the fastest clock in the body, which is why the hands stop first.
back in 1 to 2 hoursCortisol
vsvs
about 5 daysSadness
The second clock is cortisol, the slow messenger. It peaks about twenty to thirty minutes after the alarm and takes an hour or two to fall back. Then there is the third clock: the mood. In a study of how long feelings last, sadness lasted longest of all, with a typical length of about five days.
Put the clocks in order, from the one that finishes first.
Tap them in order, first to last.
Alarm→Adrenaline: minutes→Cortisol: hours→Mood: days
Right. The alarm is the start; adrenaline is gone in minutes; cortisol takes an hour or two; the mood takes days. Each clock is slower than the one before, and the last one is the one a person notices most.
Slide the marker to how long sadness typically lasted in the study, in days.
Slide the marker to your guess, then lock it. Nothing is scored.
12
you said · 0 days
actually · 5 days
0 days5 days10 days
1A day1 day
2A week7 days
Typical length of sadness, in days: —
Five days, when most other feelings were over within hours. The guess usually lands short because we picture sadness as the moment, and the study, which asked people to recall their own, measured the whole tail. Sharp feelings like shame and disgust were mostly gone in half an hour. Sadness was quieter and stayed for days.
Adrenalinethe next seconds
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Cortisolthe next hour
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The moodthe next week
Why three clocks? Each one has a job. Adrenaline is for the next ten seconds: run or stand. Cortisol is for the next hour: stay alert, in case there is more. The mood is for the next week: remember this, and look out for it. The body is keeping watch on three lengths of time at once.
Each is something felt after a hurt. Which clock is it on?
One card at a time. Tap the pile it belongs to.
Card 1 of 6
Hands shaking, then still.
Still on edge at lunch, three hours later.
A low mood that is still there on Thursday.
A racing heart that settles by the end of the bus ride.
Not hungry at dinner, eight hours on.
Going over it again at the weekend.
Hands shaking, then still. → Minutes
Not yet. Minutes. Shaking hands are adrenaline, and adrenaline halves every few minutes, so the stillness comes quickly.
Still on edge at lunch, three hours later. → Hours
Not yet. Hours. Being on edge long after the heart has settled is cortisol, which peaks late and drains slowly.
A low mood that is still there on Thursday. → Days
Not yet. Days. A Monday hurt still felt on Thursday is the mood, the clock that runs in days, and sadness is the slowest of all.
A racing heart that settles by the end of the bus ride. → Minutes
Not yet. Minutes. The heart answers adrenaline, and a bus ride is three or four halvings, enough to bring it most of the way down.
Not hungry at dinner, eight hours on. → Hours
Not yet. Hours. Appetite is one of the things the slow messenger turns down while the body is on watch, and eight hours is its tail.
Going over it again at the weekend. → Days
Not yet. Days. By the weekend the two fast clocks have long stopped; the replays are running on the mood, the slowest clock.
2Minutes
++
2Hours
++
2Days
Right. Minutes, hours and days, and the body runs all three at once. A person who feels calm at lunch and low on Thursday has not gone backwards. The fast clock finished and the slow one is still running.
The fallSaturday
↓→
Sunday
A runner falls in a race on Saturday. On Sunday, which clock is the only one still running?
The mood. Adrenaline was gone in minutes and cortisol in hours; the low feeling is the days clock.
Right. By Sunday the two fast clocks have finished. What the runner feels is the slowest clock doing its job: remember this, and look out for it.
All three, because it was a big fall.
Not yet. A big fall makes each clock start higher, not run longer. Adrenaline still halves every few minutes; by the next day only the mood is still going.
Cortisol, keeping the body on watch.
Not yet. Cortisol falls back within an hour or two of the alarm. By Sunday it has long gone; what is left runs on the slowest clock, the mood.
Lesson complete
Adrenaline clears in minutes, cortisol in an hour or two, a mood in days; the body runs three clocks.