Why do you often wake up right before your alarm clock goes off?

Question

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Answer 1

It's called "bio-rhythm." Your body gets used to a certain routine after some time. You can read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm

Answer 2

My husband turns our alarm clock on only when the time changes in spring and fall, or if we've been on a 'vacation' for more than three days ... he's trained himself to 'get up before the alarm' so I can sleep in, and he doesn't need the alarm any more ... it's called HABIT ... and it takes time to build a habit, but not that much to change it, and far less time to get it back once it's 'slightly broken' ... people like 'regularity' and waking BEFORE the alarm makes getting up much easier, because you don't have all that 'noise' first thing in the morning!

Answer 3

I suppose you're going to try and claim it's somehow an "evolutionary instinct", yes? Wrong. I never wake-up "before" the alarm clock goes off. In fact, I have trouble waking-up "after" it goes off. Or a question about classical conditioning, maybe?

Answer 4

If you have woken up at the same time regularly, then you'll eventually train your mind. Your mind will remember the time, and wake up before it happens.

Physical Conditioning (psychology)

A lot of people do not want to wake up to their alarms. They either turn it off or put it on snooze because it wakes them up. Do it enough times, and your mind will wake you up before then just so that it doesn't get annoyed by the alarm.

And the reason for oversleeping when not turning the alarm on, is because when your mind knows that there's no alarm sound, then it sleeps freely, often oversleeping the individual. It doesn't wake up before to avoid the alarm, because it knows that you did not set it.

Answer 5

Because God wakes you up, I don't use an alarm clock and I get up at the same time give or take half an hour. I'm not complaining but 5am on a saturday..... It hurts.

Answer 6

Because of the "internal alarm clock" wich is usually formed as a habit due to mental conditioning which occurs after a period of time of similar repeated activity

Answer 7

Your mind knows that the alarm clock is going to go off

Answer 8

ahhhh...great question. I don't know...but I do that all the time...and it isn't a conditioning thing because I don't set it for the same time every night and I don't go to sleep at the same time every night. Also, why do I sometimes think of a song right before it is played on the radio? Or think about calling someone right before they call?

Answer 9

This happens to me. I've always believed that we have an "inner clock" that is ticking and actually keeping time for us while we sleep, and our mind and this clock work together to know when to wake us up.

Answer 10

It's our "inner alarm clock," which we have conditioned by repeating a scheduled routine.