• Why sleep can bend time — and why that matters clinically
    📄 NEW PAPER • PUBLISHED March 1, 2026 🧠 Sleep + Time Dilation

    New Paper: Sleep & Time Dilation

    A systems-level look at why time can feel like it compresses, stretches, or straight-up teleports — depending on state, sleep architecture, and neurocognitive load.

    Circadian & ultradian timing REM / NREM architecture Perception & memory Neurocognition Clinical relevance

    I just published a new paper exploring how sleep changes our internal clock — and why time can feel like it compresses, stretches, or straight-up teleports depending on state, architecture, and neurocognitive load. This is a systems-level look at perception, memory, and timing — with practical implications for health, performance, and clinical interpretation.

    Read the paper here:

    baileygwyn.xyz/publications/papers/memory-sleep-time-dialtion

    Read the Paper All Publications

    What this argues

    Time perception isn’t one knob — it’s an emergent output from attention, memory encoding, arousal, and sleep-stage dynamics.

    Why sleep matters

    REM/NREM cycling can distort retrospective timing by changing what gets encoded (and how densely it’s stored).

    Clinical angle

    Insomnia, hypersomnia, fragmentation, meds, and neuroinflammation can shift perceived time — affecting patient reports and functional outcomes.

    Abstract (short)

    This paper synthesizes research across sleep physiology, cognitive neuroscience, and subjective timing to propose a practical framework for sleep-linked time dilation. It distinguishes prospective versus retrospective timing, maps state-dependent mechanisms (arousal, attention, memory density) to sleep-stage behavior, and outlines hypotheses for clinical measurement and intervention.

    Tags

    #Sleep #TimePerception #Neuroscience #Circadian #Research

  • A mindset that keeps life expanding—even when things get hard.

    February 23, 2026 ⏱️ 5 min read ✍️ Bailey R. Gwyn

    Curiosity Is Still My Superpower

    Why curiosity isn’t just a trait — it’s a survival strategy.

    One thing I’ve learned the hard way: stress is a professional door-slammer. It narrows your vision, shortens your fuse, and turns your brain into a browser with 47 tabs open—none of them loading.

    Curiosity does the opposite.

    Curiosity is the part of me that refuses to let life shrink. It’s the inner “wait… what if?” that keeps the lights on when everything else is trying to go into low-power mode. When I stay curious, I don’t just cope—I navigate. I learn faster, connect dots cleaner, and keep enough perspective to remember I’m not trapped in one moment.

    Curiosity Is a Strategy, Not Just a Trait

    People talk about curiosity like it’s cute. Like it’s a sparkle you’re born with.

    For me, it’s more like a system upgrade.

    The moment I get curious, my brain shifts from:

    “I’m stuck.”
    to

    “What’s actually happening here?”
    “This is too much.”
    to

    “What’s one thing I can learn that makes this make sense?”

    Curiosity doesn’t erase difficulty. It keeps difficulty from turning into hopelessness.

    Curiosity Connects the Dots

    Whether I’m deep in neuroscience, tinkering with technology, building systems, or just trying to understand people better—curiosity is the thread that ties it all together.

    It’s the reason I can look at something messy and still see structure.

    Curiosity turns confusion into a map.

    It’s Not About Knowing Everything

    Curiosity isn’t ego. It isn’t showing off.

    “I don’t know yet, but I’m willing to learn.”

    “There’s more here than what I can see right now.”

    “I’m not done becoming.”

    Even Difficult Seasons Can Be Meaningful

    Some seasons feel like survival—paperwork, fatigue, uncertainty. But curiosity has this stubborn way of making even the hard parts feel purposeful.

    Because when I’m curious, I’m still building. Still learning. Still collecting understanding.

    Curiosity keeps your world bigger than your worries.

    And that—especially in difficult seasons—is a superpower worth protecting.

    Tags

    Personal Growth Resilience Mindset Neuroscience Systems Thinking