It also works on a larger time scale. When I was working 9-to-6, weeks passed like days. Now that I'm on my own, time passes much slower because there's so much different stuff you have to do and learn every day.
Sitting in a dentists chair makes minutes seem like hours, sitting on a couch chatting with an attractive member of the opposite sex makes hours seem like minutes.
Mortgages make months shorter and years longer.
Time is pretty weird, our perception of it changes all the time depending on the circumstances, it shouldn't be a surprise that extreme circumstances change our perception of time in an extreme way.
