Can you tell the time by your body clock?

[tavernier]

I was just reading the interesting post regarding school children not being able to read an analogue clock. Digital is now the accepted time telling method. Not too long ago I was involved in a fun time study. I could correctly tell the time within a ten minute differential at any given period of the day, if I was allowed to have a moment of observation, both indoors and out. Shocked myself!

Anyway, we may not need clocks at all if we recognize and learn to trust our own biological time pieces.

[applegrove]

1. I had a grandmother who could say to herself 'wake up at 6:25'

Last edited Mon May 7, 2018, 04:06 AM - Edit history (1)

and she would wake up then. Without an alarm. She was a farmer during her married life and did all the heavy work there as her husband was older and a country doctor. So she was very well connected to the rhythms of the earth.

[Bettie]

21. I can do that.

I set my alarm, but am usually awake a few minutes before it rings.

I am not as good at telling what time it is, though my husband can do that, usually within about ten minutes or so.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I rely 98% on my Circadian Clock.

I can sense time passage of different increments: 5 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour. I wake up without an alarm at the correct time.

I was resistant to learning how to tell time (and how to count money) when I was 6 or 7. I was doing fine without having to worry about "time" and thought it silly that one had meals by the clock (8:00, 12:00, and 6:00) as it seemed arbitrary and unnatural.

When I did get around to learning about time (I couldn't avoid it as it reappeared when I took French), I appreciated the algebraic and geometric themes that went with analogue time-telling.

And FWIW, I have a big ole analogue clock in the kitchen for when the electricity goes off.

[Boxerfan]

3. Clocks were a invention of necessity......

Trade routes required navigation & they had sextants & sundials. But for accurate navigation a need for accurate-and portable-timepieces developed.

I consider it one of the finest times for engineering minds & problem solvers. But I collect pocket watches so there may be a bias....

They eventually developed marine chronometers. I hope to own one someday but suffice to say they were very accurate & the testing of these & other accurate timepieces made for many awards & competitions.

I'm able to tell time also by just the suns attitude or days chronology-I don't know.

Couldn't help but "chime in". A horology joke oh boy what a card.

[GeorgeHayduke]

4. Yes.

I can also determine when a set microwave is about to ding.

I've maintained my circadian rhythms for years.

[lordsummerisle]

5. There's an author

Lee Child, who has a series of books with a character called Jack Reacher who has the ability to always know the exact time of day. Light, entertaining reading...

[Big Blue Marble]

6. Yes I can tell the time within ten minutes

which is actually a little strange given that the measurement of time is a human construct, itself.

But I have always been able to do this.

[tavernier]

7. Odd isn't it how with time pieces to the ready, we never trust ourselves.

Perhaps you do, but most of us don’t.

I always wake up before my alarm, except for one time when I had been drinking alcoholic beverages the night before. Still, I doubt that I would have slept long past the alarm.

[Big Blue Marble]

18. Yes I always wake before the alarm even if I would like to sleep longer.

The only reason I set the alarm is to trigger my internal clock.

[GusBob]

8. Yep it's uncanny for me.

I never need an alarm clock. If I have to get up at a certain time, even real early to go fishing. I tell myself get up at 430 and do.

And like you I can tell time of day with several minutes without looking. If I wake up in the night I test myself before looking at the clock, oh it's gotta be about 2:24. Sometimes I get it to the ex at minute

The only time this doesn't work is if I travel across time zones.

Another trick I can tell due North pretty much anywhere I am. I think that comes from being on the ocean alot

[tavernier]

11. Agree, time zones or latitudes.

I have lived on tropical island time for 40 plus years, and when I go up to Indiana (same time zone but different sun set times) I am thrown off for a few days.

[ProudLib72]

9. Yes, usually accurate to 15 minutes

My wife is astounded by this for some reason.

[Brother Buzz]

10. Yes, by observing to a great degree, but it gets sketchy for a couple of weeks when....

they do the daylight savings change thingy

[Blue Owl]

12. I always know when it's beer thirty

[Frustratedlady]

13. I've never used an alarm clock and am rarely late for anything.

My husband had a remarkable inner clock and could wake up within 1 or 2 minutes of when he needed to be up.

On the other hand, I can't imagine the kids can't LEARN to read a clock. It isn't that difficult.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Not so very much.

The reason we have clocks is because most people have only an approximate sense of time.

[doc03]

15. When I have to wake up for something I do set the alarm but always

wake up a minute or two before it goes off. Every morning when I wake up I guess what time it is within a 10 minutes or so.

[hunter]

16. I hate the sound of my alarm clock.

If my sleep patterns are normal (which isn't always the case) I usually wake up a few minutes before the alarm goes off so I can turn it off.

[bitterross]

17. Yes, I can. Most of the time.

I'm pretty accurate unless there is an unusual stress involved.

Makes one wonder what other innate talents we've learned to ignore.

[SamKnause]

19. When I was working and followed a schedule, I never used an alarm clock.

If an appointment interfered with my normal routine, I would just remind myself

what time I needed to to wake up before I went to bed.

I have this in common with my brother.

Now that I no longer work or follow any kind of schedule, my body clock has no idea

what the hell is going on.

[logosoco]

20. I know in the middle of the day it is around 2 when i feel the need for a nap! nt

[Lucinda]

22. Yep.

It comes in handy sometimes!