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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCan you tell the time by your body clock?
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
(118,807 posts)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
(16,129 posts)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
(46,202 posts)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
(2,533 posts)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
(1,227 posts)I can also determine when a set microwave is about to ding.
I've maintained my circadian rhythms for years.
lordsummerisle
(4,651 posts)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
(5,151 posts)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
(12,406 posts)Perhaps you do, but most of us dont.
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
(5,151 posts)The only reason I set the alarm is to trigger my internal clock.
GusBob
(7,286 posts)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
(12,406 posts)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
(17,984 posts)My wife is astounded by this for some reason.
Brother Buzz
(36,469 posts)they do the daylight savings change thingy
Blue Owl
(50,513 posts)Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)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
(25,902 posts)The reason we have clocks is because most people have only an approximate sense of time.
doc03
(35,382 posts)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
(38,328 posts)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
(4,066 posts)I'm pretty accurate unless there is an unusual stress involved.
Makes one wonder what other innate talents we've learned to ignore.
SamKnause
(13,110 posts)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
(3,208 posts)Lucinda
(31,170 posts)It comes in handy sometimes!