Why is it that when people wake up during the night – to go to the toilet, for example – they almost certainly check their clock as they get back into bed, even if (a) this means going out of their way [sitting up and leaning over, or whatever] and (b) there is still no light streaming through the windows [therefore: it’s not even remotely near the morning anyway].
The only valid reason I can think of for this behaviour is to see how close it is to their alarm time, and, if it’s almost time to get up anyway, to get up – but if it’s still dark outside then it obviously isn’t anyway, so they needn’t bother. Knowing the time does not help you sleep, does it?
I’d be interested in a study in which people who frequently make 8am-ish starts and who can say that they have engaged in this behaviour have their alarm clocks replace with a specially-crafted alternative which does not show the time on the face between the time that the alarm is set and the time that it goes off. Volunteers for the study would have to use this special clock for several months and record instances of it changing their behavioural patterns – and any other comments – in a diary for submission at the end of the experiment (say a month later). Ideally the experiment would be performed at a time of year and location at which, for the people involved, their ‘usual’ alarm time fell shortly after sunrise, to eliminate oddities in the ‘light effect’ above, and would be repeated with different study groups around the year. No control group is necessary (technically, everybody has been part of one for the last ten years, so we’ll use them); instead, testimony will be collected from interested parties among the general populace and used during the analysis of results.
Just a thought. I’d be interested to see any conclusions and theories into why humans engage in this interesting behaviour.
Right: off to lectures.
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