Waking Before Alarm Clocks Go Off

Please share your experiences with this phenomena in the comments below.

Dr Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and From 2005 to 2010 was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project, Cambridge.

by Rupert Sheldrake
Ways to Go Beyond And Why They Work

[williamh]

This happens to me a lot. I will wake up and check my alarm and it will be literally 1 minute before it's due to go off.

It happens often

[philipchurch]

If I tell myself to wake up at a certain time with emotional emphasis before I go to sleep I’ll wake up a minute or so before that time without an alarm clock even if that time isn’t part of my regular schedule.

[anth]

Nice to hear Ruperts voice for a change during these challenging times

[kahae]

I can't remember ever being woken by the alarm, even when it is set in order to catch, say, a 3 a.m. ferry. But I wonder whether this isn't simply that most people have an innate sense of time even during sleep, and so we can program ourselves to wake up at any given time? If I have to get up at an irregular time I find I don't go into a deep sleep. But certainly, when I was getting up at a regular time I always woke just before the alarm. I haven't worn a watch in 25 years and I don't carry a phone around but I can usually guess the time fairly accurately. Here's something curious though: I have a tamed feral cat. In the evening he goes out to hunt rodents and rabbits before returning to sleep on my bed. He'd been coming in rather late which was disrupting my sleep so I asked him to come in at 9.30 p.m. that evening. He turned up at 9.35 p.m. Since then he's usually (almost always? - I don't always look at the time) come in at around that time. Sometimes if I've been very tired I've asked him to come in earlier - and he has. While I'm sure he has no idea of clock time and all this could be coincidental - it only started about a month ago - it is potentially rather curious. Many years ago when I was a student I had a part-time job in the evening which saw me return home just after midnight and Merlin, a cat I had then, would be waiting for me out on the roadside, sometimes, to my distress, sitting in the middle of the road. Normally he was a homebody but he would always be waiting for me.

[michaelhilsbos]

So true that happens to me very often, lets follow the research on this !

[carmeflores]

It happens to me very often since I'm a teenager (I'm 55y.o.) even with mechanical alarm clocks (so discarding a possible electrical factor). So did my father, who used to turn off the clock just before time.

Very often too I use to be physically aware of alarms, cars e.g.
In some occasion my cats and I turn our heads at the same time to the direction where the disturbant sound is going to be in a second.

[AnnPorterCourtTherapist]

Hi Rupert, i many times hear the alarm before the alarm actually goes off. Also if i have something important that i must wake up for, i will wake up many hours before the actual alarm goes off. this has been my experience. i love your work and may you live for many many years into your hundreds. your work is important for longevity. love you, ann porter

[anthonykerr]

If I have an early flight (or other commitment which involves another person) then I almost always wake up a few minutes before the set alarm time. If I set an alarm in order to get up early and get things done (commitment to myself) then the alarm wakes me. This has been the case for decades.
Thanks for your work, Dr Sheldrake.

[copernicanrevolution.]

2:30 Sounds very much in line with what I experienced this morning, while I was (half) awake and had not watched my clock at all.
Literally just seconds before the alarm went off, I had a flash/vision about exactly Dr Sheldrake's work, and I could "see" that the alarm would go off in just a few seconds ...
As if I / my system was connected to some kind of field / other dimension...
I was in the half sleep/awake state where we supposedly have more access to the subconsious..

[dannymathis]

This happens to me nearly everyday. i set the alarm as a back-up plan. 4 out of 5 days i don't have to have it.
It's just a safeguard. Good research, i admire your work, Thank You!

[labbeaj]

Your voice is awesome! I love this!
One or two minutes before the alarm clock. Sometimes it's like ten minutes.

[MartinFletcherPsyD]

I have been amazed by this phenomenon. I recognized it from an early age and have puzzled over it. "What knows I need to wake?" Weird.

[mattbabb.]

Fascinating phenomenon indeed!!

This happens to me often, sometimes daily. The most notable streak was during a Vipassana retreat. It would happen multiple times each day and night (I took a lot of naps). The more I meditate, the more it happens. Happened yesterday, in fact!!

My explanation is simple: the unconscious mind is very good at estimating time. Conscious mind, not so much, although this can be trained very simply with the timer game (just sit down to meditate for exactly 10 minutes with a timer. When you feel like it’s been 10 minutes, look at the timer. Either you’re spot on [congrats!!], or you’re off, and your unconscious mind will calibrate. Repeat twice every day and eventually you’ll get to a point where you can nail it within seconds. Very gratifying, and a very peculiar “times up” feeling)

However, this theory doesn’t account for unknown alarms. Only ones I’ve set myself. But the timing is irrelevant, as long as I know what it is.

Would love to tell you more, Rupert, if you have any more questions.

[Whittingtons]

I've too have woken up just before my alarm clock on many occasions. I'm currently enjoying your book "The Sense of Being Stared at."

[CG-wrno]

Happens to me fairly often. I always thought it was an interesting phenomenon and not just coincidence. Also at varying times of the day, as you said.

[quackingmotherduckling]

I have had dreams lately leading up to the alarm clock ringing. In one an announcer voice (which was my own inner voice) spoke out loudly in the dream and said "Ladies and gentlemen! Get ready for the next delight!". I got excited and wondered what was to come. A few seconds later the alarm started ringing and I woke up laughing, thinking "Oh, so this is the 'delight'?".

Then another time my mother walked up to a retro radio in the dream, that was playing. She turned the knob and the at the precise she turned it, the first note in my alarm started sounding. It was like the channel got shifted.

[DCND]

Yes, me too. I have always thought this to be an interesting occurrence.

[psy-ryn]

This happens to me very often. From regular routine alarms to random alarms, almost everytime. If I am asleep I will almost always come into consciousness about 30 seconds to a minute before the alarm is about to go.

[lavette]

i always get up before the alarm BUT if i forget to set the alarm i DO NOT !

setting the clock seems to be part of my ritual, or as i like to refer to it my self-programming

[TriggerIreland]

The researchers voice on his video adds a felt presence of connection which is affecting. The science seems tangible as participatory experience. Participatory experience therefore feels like potential science. For my contribution in the covid19 current situation to offer that it's affecting my slumber time; but waking without intrusion at the planned time then going back to sleep assuming its earlier than needed only to later discover the earlier wakeful moment was the appropriate waking time time to attend a scheduled event. This happened Monday and Wednesday of this week.