The other day, when someone asked me how old I was, I told them the wrong age. It wasn’t my wishful thinking to be 22 again; instead, something I put down to nearly-the-weekend frazzlebrain.

While it’s true that the years do tend to blend into one another as you grow older, the last three years are particularly hard to remember and distinguish between – for good reason. We all lost, and mourned, time (and much, much more) during the pandemic. Two years of lockdowns, uncertainty and tragedy took an enormous toll on our physical, emotional and mental health, warping not only our sense of the present and potential future, but the past too.

Because I don’t just think of myself as three years younger than I actually am, I feel it. The years we lived in constant fear, away from our loved ones and terrified of the future seem simultaneously so real, yet like they happened in a blur. The hours spent at home may have dragged endlessly at the time, but now feel like a flash in the pan.

This is how the ‘pandemic time warp’ might be affecting you, according to scientists