This article seeks to discuss time within the context of health sciences, where physical, biological, psychological and sociological factors interact. Whereas in our perception of the world and of ourselves time shows itself from many angles, in classical physics, according to the Newtonian model, physical time was conceived as absolute, unilinear, homogeneous and observer-independent. With the theory of relativity and the study of complex systems, a new concept of time appeared in physics, namely, fractal time, which is more compatible with psychological and sociological approaches. From this point of view, the life experience of a person and the respective processes of health construction involve a multiplicity of coexisting temporalities, organized in a coherent pattern of self-similarity. A rupture in this coherent pattern leads to the appearance of illness. The article suggests that a more suitable approach to sickness ought to take into account, as a reference for healthcare professionals, the concept of fractal time, causing the patient to become better attuned to the complexity of nature and, consequently, to himself.
Time; temporality; health-disease process; relativity; fractal; transdisciplinarity
