Why You Always Wake Up Before Your Alarm Clock Rings
Have you ever realized that when you have something new to get up for, you wake up before your alarm clock goes off? Is it your subconscious, or does it have a deeper meaning?
While many experts have been wondering about the occurrence, there is no straightforward answer. Many sleep experts are divided on whether it is genuinely just a phenomenon or whether there is something to it. This specific occurrence happens to hundreds of thousands of people every year, so it cannot just be a coincidence.
It is well known that humans have an intricate system of hormones and processes that help our bodies keep a steady rhythm of day and night. Exposing our bodies to external factors like sunlight, food, exercise, and various other influences, help to promote certain rhythms. If you receive the optimum amount of sleep each night and have a good routine, you should awaken at the same time every day. But it still does not explain how people can wake up before their alarm, especially if they are worried or anxious about a specific event happening the next day.
Some experts believe the anxiety of sleeping through our alarm clock and being late contributes to this waking. Some sleep scientists have studied this occurrence over the last few decades with very mixed results. Much research has come to the conclusion that, like everything, people can do this once in a while, but it is not something humans can do every time. So even scientific research cannot give a definitive answer.
Two decades ago, a group of scientists found an interesting reason why this might be happening. These researchers wanted to know if there was a correlation between expecting to wake up and the HP axis. The HP axis is an intricate structure that handles stress with a series of different glands, including the hypothalamus and adrenal glands.
In theory, a hormone called ACTH in the pituitary gland will start to increase before you get up, which will cause the adrenal glands to discharge a hormone called cortisol that assists the body in awakening from sleep. When they tried this theory out by subjecting fifteen people to regular blood tests while they were asleep over three nights, it actually received some positive results and was eventually hypothesized.
The subjects who were asked to wake up an hour earlier than usual saw a spike in their ACTH hormone before they woke. This elevated level showed that their body reacted to the new information that they had to wake up an hour earlier.
This research prompted interesting questions about how bodies would know they had to get up earlier.
Realistically there are probably numerous mechanisms within the body that can influence your body waking up at a specific time. Also, it is possible that the anxiety of getting up early is overriding our internal biological clock. While it is best not to get rid of your alarm clock just yet in favor of your internal alarm clock, it is something that remains a biological mystery.
