Preso dalla documentazione del mysql:
NOW()

Returns the current date and time as a value in 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or numeric context.

mysql> SELECT NOW();
-> '1997-12-15 23:50:26'
mysql> SELECT NOW() + 0;
-> 19971215235026

Within a stored routine or trigger, NOW() returns a constant time that indicates the time at which the routine or triggering statement began to execute. This differs from the behavior for SYSDATE().