“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.

Potatoes have had a rough go of things.

Most recently, the high-protein, anti-carbohydrate people have spread the message that potatoes are full of fattening carbs. Back in the anti-fat ’80s, we were told that mashed or fried potatoes were too rich, guaranteed to pack on the pounds. Before that, there were the anti-nightshade adherents, who believed that potatoes were laced with poisons.

In the United States, where a 5-pound bag of potatoes was in every pantry when I was a kid, we are eating fewer spuds these days. U.S. annual consumption of fresh potatoes fell from 48 pounds per person in 1982 to 28 pounds per person in 2024, while frozen potato consumption rose from 41 pounds to 58 pounds per person over the same period, respectively.

That means we aren’t cooking with potatoes, but we’re eating a whole lot of French fries and tater tots. Here’s how nutritionists want us to start thinking about potatoes in our everyday diets.

Like other vegetables, potatoes have a spectrum of nutrients, not just carbohydrates.

According to Toby Smithson, a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) and the senior manager of Nutrition and Wellness at the American Diabetes Association, “they are a rich source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium and fiber, especially when the skin is left on. Potassium is particularly important for heart health and healthy blood pressure”. In fact, potatoes are a potassium superstar and even have some protein.

“Potatoes rank highest in potassium of the top-selling fruits and vegetables. Potatoes are delicious and a good quality carb – that even offers a little bit of plant protein too (3 grams per serving),” Barbara Ruhs, a registered dietitian (RD), said.

It’s true that potatoes contain carbohydrates. You may have heard of the Glycemic Index, a scale devised to help diabetic patients manage their carbohydrate intake. It rates foods on a scale of 0 to 100 based on how quickly the foods break down and raise your blood sugar after eating them. In recent years, the glycemic ratings of certain foods have entered the lexicon of weight loss, as people strive to lower their sugar intake.

The highest-GI potato is a plain baked Russet potato, scoring at 111. A boiled white potato scores 82, a boiled New Potato is 58, and French fries 73. Russets have more of a starch called amylopectin, which digests quickly, while waxy potatoes have more amylose, which burns more slowly. New potatoes have the most amylose and, when eaten with the skins on, are the lowest GI. But GI is just part of the picture.

Potato salad, on the other hand, has a GI of 45, which is low. How does that work? There are two important factors in how a potato affects your blood sugar. One is the way it is cooked, and the other is what you eat with it.

The same potato, which has a GI of 82 when cooked and refrigerated overnight, now has a GI of 49. That’s because of the phenomenon of resistant starch.

“The flesh contains resistant starch that increases in content when potatoes are cooked and cooled and actually works to blunt the glycemic effect of potatoes, meaning your blood sugar levels are lower than if eating hot potatoes,” Carolyn O’Neil, RDN, said.

The resistant starch remains even when you reheat a chilled, boiled potato, so cooking your potatoes the day before and then reheating them lowers their GI, even if you sauté them for breakfast.

Most foods are eaten in a dish, as part of a meal. That high-GI baked potato is usually topped with butter, sour cream or cheese. Adding cheese to that high-GI Russet potato brings the GI down to 39, which is considered low. Making that boiled and chilled potato into potato salad, with added acids, fat and fiber, drops the GI to 45.

“Who knew that potato salad was the way to go?” O’Neill said. “Turns out that by adding acid and fat to the cooled potatoes you can blunt the glycemic response even further.”

The people who really need to monitor their blood sugar are diabetics, and experts still recommend potatoes as part of the diabetic diet.

“Potatoes are often misunderstood when it comes to diabetes, but they can be part of a healthy eating pattern,” Smithson said.

“Potatoes are a quality carbohydrate and fit into the carbohydrate portion of the Diabetes Plate, where about one-quarter of the plate is filled with carbohydrate foods and the remainder includes non-starchy vegetables and lean protein.”

You’ve probably heard that all the nutrients are in the skin of the potato, especially the fibre. The flesh may seem creamy, but it also has its share of cholesterol-lowering fibre, too.

A medium Russet potato has 3-4 grams total dietary fibre, and “30-50% is in the peel, 50-70% is in the flesh,” O’Neil said.

The dietary fibre in the skin is primarily insoluble or indigestible fibre “that works like ‘nature’s broom’ to support gut motility,” and “the flesh of the potato contains soluble fibres, like the type in oatmeal, that slows down glucose absorption and helps manage cholesterol levels,” she added.

While the rest of us are trimming carbs, endurance athletes are carrying packets of carbohydrate gels to slurp down during long runs or bike races. A 2019 study showed that Russet potatoes are as effective as packaged carbohydrate gels for fueling endurance athletes. The trend of carrying a baked potato along while training continues to this day.

The overall takeaway? If you’re concerned about carbs, boil, chill and then eat your potatoes. Lean toward new potatoes when appropriate, and make sure to enjoy them with some fat and acid to counter the blood sugar boost.

Andy Burnham has been urged to “stand up” to Donald Trump ahead of his first face-to-face with the US president next week.

World leaders will gather at the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York – and there’s growing anticipation for how the UK prime minister will deal with the mercurial American leader.

Burnham previously criticised Trump when he was the mayor of Greater Manchester, insisting the divisive figure would not be welcome in his city due to his “poisonous politics”.

But the PM seems much keener on maintaining the UK-US special relationship since getting into No.10.

In August, Burnham said: “I’ve had a habit of saying what I feel over the years, and I’ll continue to do that. But, at the same time, I am somebody who works with people, tries to find common ground.”

However, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey told Sky News over the weekend that the prime minister should stand up to Trump, whom he describes as a “destructive demagogue”.

“If you look at how he’s behaved, he has even got worse. The Iran war is hurting America, hurting our country, hurting the whole world. This has been a disaster,” Davey said.

“And the problem with Mr Trump is unless you stand up to him, he rolls you over.”

He said Canadian prime minister Mark Carney – who is currently locked in a trade war with Trump – was a good example for Burnham to follow.

“He [Trump] may not like being called out, but he has to be called out,” Davey said.

However, equalities minister Bridget Phillipson suggested that was not the route Burnham was going to go down, telling Sky News that “politics is about being pragmatic”.

When reminded of Burnham’s past attacks on Trump, she said: “Look, I think what you’ve just described there is politics.

“The president knows that, this is… far from unique.

“And people will express views at different points on different topics. And that’s no bar to having a strong relationship.”

Phillipson continued: “Politics is also about being pragmatic, and it’s also about being rooted in what’s best for the country.

“And what is best for our country is having a relationship with the US where we can engage in that defence intelligence sharing, where we can have a strong relationship on lots and lots of areas, whether that’s on the economy as well.

“Does that mean we always agree on everything? No. Again, that’s what I mean about it being politics.”

Despite belittling the ex-Manchester mayor by describing him as a “liberal” and a “mayor of a town” before he became prime minster, Trump has not yet publicly criticised Burnham’s premiership.

Burnham has already spoken to Trump over the phone at least twice – once shortly after he was sworn into office and another time when announcing his plan to sanction Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Trump remained surprisingly silent over the PM’s plan to punish the US ally over its treatment of Palestinians.

It’s a harmonious start to their relationship and a stark contrast to the way the president publicly slammed Keir Starmer during his final months in office.

Trump said the then-PM was “no Winston Churchill” after he refused to get directly involved in the Iran war.

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

You probably already know that reading is pretty good for us. It’s been linked to better mental health, more empathy, a lower risk of dementia, and even increased longevity.

There’s only one problem: a lot of us can’t find it in us to do it.

Earlier this year, the National Literacy Trust found a 36% decrease in reading for pleasure among teens compared to 2005 figures. Over a third of UK adults say they’ve given up reading as a hobby.

In 2025, meanwhile, a YouGov poll found that 40% of Britons hadn’t read or listened to a single book in the last year.

But what about people on the other side of that spectrum? After all, that same YouGov poll found a not-insignificant portion (4%) of “mega-readers”, who tear through 50 volumes or more a year. That’s roughly a book a week.

Here’s what we know about the people who reach that bar or even exceed it:

Super-reader Tyler Cowen, who claims to have gone through multiple books a night, previously said that if you’re not feling transported by your current options, “Just stop reading, put them down”.

Online, readers have described the practice of “DNF-ing” a book (DNF stands for “did not finish”). Many say this helped get them out of a reading slump – personally, I went from reading one book a month to six with the method.

In case you need any more convincing, only books which “emotionally transport” readers into their fictional worlds seemed to improve readers’ empathy scores in one study, while trudging through pages they hated temporarily lowered them.

Literary Hub writer Kelsey Rexroat interviewed “super-readers” who finished 100 books or more a year.

She noted that most of them weren’t bookworms as kids, and many began with a “modest” daily target. And Chasity Moreno, a worker in the New York Public Library’s Reader Services department, agreed, telling TIME: “You don’t have to be like, ‘I’m going to read War and Peace’”.

This is how I broke my screen addiction and fell back in love with reading. I started with a 10-page-a-night goal, which I still sometimes rely on when I’m a bit stuck.

Podcast host Anne Bogel, who also runs the Modern Mr D’Arcy blog and says she reads hundreds of books a year, told TIME that she’s a “big believer in tracking one’s books – it really does help develop a more satisfying reading life”.

A Redditor agreed: “I love seeing the progress and it’s personally quite motivating to see how many books I read in a month,” they wrote.

We know that regularly monitoring how close you are to your goal is linked to greater odds of success – perhaps this approach works for reading, too.

Last year, I worked my way through every Jane Austen novel, as well as her juvenilia. Rather than making me feel stuck, the restriction proved really useful: I knew I was going to like the style, which helped me stick to the list.

Tyler Cowen said he sometimes likes to read in “clusters”, i.e. books on the same topic.

Sunday Times data journalist, Tom Calver, who made good on his resolution to read 52 books in one year, found success with the trick, too.

It sounds obvious, but having a book on you all or most of the time really can help.

Cowen said reading “anywhere” – from bed to the bus – helped him reach his goal of about a book a week.

Frederick J. Goodall, who read 614 books in 2025, told Literary Hub: “I kept a book with me wherever I go.

“If I have to pick up the kids from school, I read a book while I’m waiting in the car line. If I have to take my mom to the doctor, I read a book then.”

A 2024 study found that the best readers tended to have larger sections of the parts of the brain linked to categorising and associating different pieces of information, as well as a thicker Heschl’s gyrus, which hosts the auditory cortex.

Study author Prof Mikael Roll said this link might not be as unlikely as it sounds.

“To pair letters with speech sounds, we first need to be aware of the sounds of the language. This phonological awareness is a well-established precursor to children’s reading development,” he told The Conversation.