# Waking up before my alarm clock...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waking-up-before-my-alarm-clock/43950>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 4, 2000, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waking-up-before-my-alarm-clock/43950 "2000-12-04T15:32:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![QuantumGrid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c6cbf5/32.png) [@QuantumGrid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuantumGrid)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waking-up-before-my-alarm-clock/43950/1 "2000-12-04T15:32:45Z")

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More often that not I will wake up two or three minutes before my alarm clock is set to go off. This is even more odd because I will change the time my alarm is set by as much as thirty minutes to an hour either way and I will still do it.

I don’t mind, because I would much rather wake up on my own that to some buzz that is seemingly blaring with a noise to rival that of an atomic explosion.

I just want to know whats up.

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**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waking-up-before-my-alarm-clock/43950/2 "2000-12-04T15:53:00Z")

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Quite a common phenomenom, I haven’t used an alarm clock in years and know other people with the same ability. It seems our internal time clocks are quite accurate. My technique is to tell myself what time I want to arise just before I go to sleep.

I wonder if the ability has anything to do with hating to be jarred awake by a loud irritating noise?

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**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waking-up-before-my-alarm-clock/43950/3 "2000-12-04T15:57:12Z")

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This happens to me sometimes too. I’ve noticed that my clock-radio makes a tiny clicking sound just before the buzzer goes off-- maybe yours does something similar, and it’s that pre-alarm sound that wakes you up? As small as the sound is, I think it stands a chance of waking you if the room is otherwise silent and you’re not in a deep sleep.

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**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waking-up-before-my-alarm-clock/43950/4 "2000-12-04T15:59:12Z")

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