My subconscious clock is more accurate than my conscious one...

[Paul Adams]

Put me in a queue or a waiting room for an amount of time and make me guess how long I've been waiting - I will not be able to give you an accurate answer, I suck at estimating time lapses.

During an average day I check my watch or a nearby clock a huge amount, and am often surprised at what time it is compared to what time I thought it was.


Lately I've been having trouble sleeping - waking up 2 or 3 times a night, due to the heat, and last night I was having a bizarre dream...

In this dream I got a phone call from some telesales guy and it woke me up (yes, I was asleep in my dream, what an entertaining imagination I have) and I berated this guy for calling as it was 4:15am - he explained he was just trialling a new tactic of telesales more likely to catch people at home when they weren't preoccupied with the TV or dinner.

He thought it was sheer genius, I disabused him of this notion, slammed the phone down in my dream, and promptly woke up (really woke up, this time).
I rolled over in bed and half sat up to look at the alarm clock... which said 4:14am.
Spooky.


Also, and this must have happened to others, if I have a big event the following day and set my alarm for a given time, I will very often find that I wake up exactly one minute before the alarm is due to go off.


So why the hell is my internal clock more accurate when I'm not conscious?

If I'm bored/waiting then time drags, my clock runs fast - if I'm busy/active then it runs slow, is there a happy medium?

[Steve]

I always wake up a few minutes before my alarm - I pre-empt it for some reason.

[blockers]

That does sound like a funny dream Sometimes i do find i wake up just before the alarm is meant to go off....which is a bit odd.

Normally poor at guessing the correct time.

[Rob]

I only set my alarm in case my body clock lets me down - usually caused by by a nice Semillon Chardonnay

But seriously, I can usually think what time I need to be up and lo, I wake up couple of minutes before alarm. Perhaps I'm just lucky.

[petrefax]

Also, and this must have happened to others, if I have a big event the following day and set my alarm for a given time, I will very often find that I wake up exactly one minute before the alarm is due to go off.

i do this a lot of the time - but still set the alarm just in case!

[Moonshade]

I hate this, now that I'm on summer vacation I can't sleep long. Before at the weekends (when the school was still going on) I could sleep until 12 o'clock..and even the day when I graduated..I was coming home quite late and thought, now I will sleep well and long.

But I woke up at 10 o'clock :/ and It's always like this and then when it's about 1 week left until school starts, _then_ I can sleep. Maybe it's because I'm stressed? I dunno.

But when I had school I always woke up 10 minutes before my alarm, but as said above..I set the alarm just in case.

[mike_w]

I tend to wake up just before my alarm goes, but the few times I forget to set it, I manage to sleep in!

[r1zeek]

I hate this, now that I'm on summer vacation I can't sleep long. Before at the weekends (when the school was still going on) I could sleep until 12 o'clock..and even the day when I graduated..I was coming home quite late and thought, now I will sleep well and long.

I get that on a weekly basis.
When i have to get up for school (7:30!) i could easily sleep until 10 or 11 (which i sometimes have been known todo
On a weekend though, i want a lie in, but I end up waking up at about 7 am and playing IL2 for the rest of the morning. THen on monday i want a lie in again!
It's a vicious cycle.
I find that aswell paul, the day of my yr 10 gcses and i wake up at like 4, then 4:20, then 5, then 6, then 6:30 and my alarm is set for 7:30!

[directhex]

hurrah for circadian rhythms

any good computer science student can shatter them if they try tho ;P

[Auran]

My body is permanently confused by daylight sayings i.e. I wake up an hour before or after my alarm goes off, though usually the latter after I've been at work for 1/2 Hour