This simple trick will make your weekends feel much longer

One of the hardest things to endure in this lifetime is coming to the end of a two-day weekend, just days after you’ve experienced the joy of a three-day weekend. We love our weekends, so we’re always trying to do everything we can to extend them. Strangely enough, science might have the answer for us.

The Cut spoke to David Eagleman, neuroscientist and professor at Stanford University, who said you can make your weekends feel a heck of a lot longer if you take the time to try something you’ve never done before.

Doing a new activity or starting a new hobby can trick your brain into thinking your days are longer.

"When you go and experience something novel, it seems to have lasted longer," Eagleman said.

The experience of newness has a strong effect on the brain, which is one of the reasons why many of your childhood memories seem like they stretched on forever. When you were a kid, pretty much everything was new, so you were functioning in a period of time that felt like it lasted a lot longer.

In fact, just making plans in general will stretch out the concept of time. At least, that’s how it will feel in your head (and that’s all that matters, if you really think about it). For example, if you spend all weekend doing activities outside of your apartment—shopping, seeing a show, going to yoga—it will feel like it lasted a lot longer than if you stayed home and watched Netflix.

So get out there this weekend and try something brand spankin’ new.