Why is it that ...?

Question

... it is scary to think of death at three or four in the morning, but not during the daylight hours.

No smart answers please, this is a philosophical question

Answer 1

Humans have a circadian rhythym. During the late night/early morning hours your mental, emotional and physical capabilities are at their lowest. So scary or depressing thoughts are that much more scary or depressing at that time of day.

In hospitals they have noticed that critically ill patients have a tendency to pass away around 3 or 4 in the morning.

Answer 2

What are you doing up at 3 or 4 in the morning? Probably not your normal routine. That may be a factor. Being up in a routine, familiar, daylight environment feels safe. It's always a little creepy to be up at 3 or 4 in the morning. It's dark...too dark. It's quiet...too quiet. And there are few people around. You are surrounded by the unknown.

Answer 3

In the hours of early morning when nightly shadows are in trepidation, when the birth of a new day is upon the horizon, and air pragnate with hopeful anticipations, when cockerels crow and birds sing in misty valleys of our perception. It is a kind of mystic experience that enchants our soul. We are closer to life at this moment in time than any other moment of the day or night the follows. We are full awake and yet our senses are subtle and half dormant still gazing into the magical regions where our realities are forged for another day into the bold and brazen Sun. Would like to lose all this – the very though of this is unbearable. When we feel the fear of death close, we are in fact value life more.

Answer 4

Most of the time during the day death seems far away, you have things to do the world is bright and people are probably all around you. At night it is dark you tend to be alone and you are preparing to go to sleep. Death at that time seems much closer, so if you fear death it feels like it could be real.

Answer 5

You always feel more secure when there's light, people and everyday noises in the daylight hours, but when darkness approaches and the comfort buffers disappear into the shadows, the mind is more open to the darker side. You feel closer to death, and realise its not just a saying, its going to happen, and when it does just like a 3 in the morning, you ll be alone!
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

Answer 6

Light makes you feel safe... Dark is scary. I bet even if it was daylight out and you were in a cave i bet the prospects of death would be a little scarier...

Basicly it means, Freddy Krueger never killed anyone during the day.

Answer 7

Yes everything you think about at 3 or 4 in the morning seems a whole lot worse than during the day.

Answer 8

From the answers so far I think chrbarley seems to know what she's talking about.

I used to suffer from anxiety, and it was always much worse in the morning, whether it was dark or light, and it wasn't just thinking about death that worried me.

I guess the body rythm thing seems to be the most accurate.

Answer 9

I think it's a combination of the quiet, the stillness and the emptiness of the night. Personally, I find that the good stuff about night, but sometimes, when your are feeling frail, it's also the hardest time. A glass of scotch--single malt of course--and a little music usually takes the edge off.

Answer 10

Everything is more intimidating in the dark.
We are not nocturnal creatures and feel threatened by the lack of visibility.
I am not all that keen on thinking about death day or night really.