<p>Many of my friends and I have noticed that at certain stages of fever, time is often perceived as being longer than usual. I'd like to know if this is caused by the disease itself, an immune reaction, or high body temperature.</p>

<p>Fun fact: a lot of gamers I know have told me that their performance in first person shooter games increases while they have fever. I also noticed that works for me and as far as a ill person's judgment goes, I think that fever disrupts prolonged concentration on a single task, which makes it easier to interchange current objectives (like from "going there" to "defending from that guy out of nowhere" almost instantly). I'd like to know if it's true and if it is related to fever at all.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-10T22:52:53.063Z
see also related question on [general temperature - time perception relationship](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/1734/how-does-body-temperature-affect-perception-of-time)
Jeromy Anglim
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-17T14:53:26.160Z
Could it be as simple as the fact that the rates of the body's chemical processes are directly related to the temperature? Thinking and perception rely on chemical reactions.
Ray Butterworth
<physiology><time><arousal>
How does fever affect time perception?
user1306322
# How does fever affect time perception?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-10-10)

Many of my friends and I have noticed that at certain stages of fever, time is often perceived as being longer than usual. I'd like to know if this is caused by the disease itself, an immune reaction, or high body temperature.

Fun fact: a lot of gamers I know have told me that their performance in first person shooter games increases while they have fever. I also noticed that works for me and as far as a ill person's judgment goes, I think that fever disrupts prolonged concentration on a single task, which makes it easier to interchange current objectives (like from "going there" to "defending from that guy out of nowhere" almost instantly). I'd like to know if it's true and if it is related to fever at all.

**Tags:** physiology, time, arousal

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: see also related question on [general temperature - time perception relationship](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/1734/how-does-body-temperature-affect-perception-of-time)  
> **username_2**: Could it be as simple as the fact that the rates of the body's chemical processes are directly related to the temperature? Thinking and perception rely on chemical reactions.  

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## 0 answers

