Body Clocks...

[Gigadave]

How does a body clock work? Most mornings I will wake up moments before my alarm goes off regardless of the fact that I get up at different times every day? Whether I get up at 5am or 7:30am I will wake up a minute or so before hand. How does my body know what time it is whilst I'm sleeping?

[TheHitMaker]

You're body doesn't just wake up a couple of minutes before the alarm goes off, in fact you wake up numerous times before that, but for too short a spell for you to remember. However, you do check the time, therefore when the alarm is due to go off, you do not go back to sleep. This has been found by experimentation under laboratory conditions.

[Gigadave]

That makes sense, except I don't have a visible clock in my room. My alarm is set on my mobile phone. I can remember waking up and checking it an hour or so before it goes off. Would my body be able to accurately estimate an hour or so?

[TheHitMaker]

Hmm, good question - I would think that it could, but perhaps other factors like light through the window, bird song, traffic, milkman have an effect.