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Waking up before I get there

Iv'e noticed on my trip from collage to home on the bus I often fall asleep, either listening to music or not, but always wake up within a half mile of my stop, but never past it. I seem to be able to safely sleep and wake up just before I get there. I had a theroy that I'm not actually asleep, and my eyes must be open, but Iv'e had passengers confirm my eyes were closed, and that I was snoring. Also there was one exception to this, when I thought 'I'm going to miss my stop this time' slept, and woke up in the village after my own. Does anyone else experience this, do you think it is normal? And more importantly, how does my body know when to wake up? The journey doesn't always take the same time. The few constants are

1) I sit at the back, on the right hand side, next to the window, or near the front, behind the driver (I live in England)

2)I wake up, sometimes there's drool at the corner of my mouth, I doubt i'm meditating.

3)I'm always deprived of sleep on a collage day, usually 1-6 hours sleep for that day.
Do you think it's normal?
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Comments (15)
chassis (329)
2005-06-19 18:57:01
i know!
i have the exact same ability!(if you can call it that!) only slightly different tough.. if i set the time to 12:00PM(or whatever) i always wake up a couple of minutes before the clock rings. no matter how many hours i slept, i always wake up before the alarm clock rings! strange..
Reply
chassis (329)
2005-06-19 18:57:03
i know!
i have the exact same ability!(if you can call it that!) only slightly different tough.. if i set the time to 12:00PM(or whatever) i always wake up a couple of minutes before the clock rings. no matter how many hours i slept, i always wake up before the alarm clock rings! strange..
Reply
CRS2117 (300)
2005-06-20 03:50:45
@: chassis
I wish they did a big study on how the biological clock works. I know so little about it I'm picturing a little gland at the bottom of the brain like the adrenal gland.
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JoeyG (72)
2005-06-20 10:36:48
I do the same thing...
I commute an hour by train to work. On the way home, I always take a nap and wake up one stop before I need to get off the train...

Reply
aoeuid (376)
2005-06-21 09:18:19
I do the same thing. I guess if geese and some other animals can "feel" where they are, there's no reason humans shouldn't be able to... you're probably more sensitive to it when you're not fully conscious (eg. asleep).
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appleve (436)
2005-06-24 08:22:44
classical conditioning?
I think it's some kind of conditioning. There might be certain sounds that signal that you're getting closer to home (announcement of stops over a PA system, etc) or maybe it is just the length of time it takes to get there. These cues mean it's time to wake up.
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hmmm (508)
2005-07-03 14:34:18
@: aoeuid
i do that all the time
I always wake up before my stop/alarm/meeting(:3) so i stopped bothering to worry or set an alarm.
I think it may be that while you are asleep the subconsious takes over your body while the consious is sleeping. Your subconsious picks up the signals or primal feelings you don't pay attention to and wakes you up when you need to be awake.
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ThatOneGuy (832)
2005-10-08 00:42:26
These collage days sound very colorful...

Yeah. You're sleep deprived. And some people sleep with their eyes open. You're a normal college kid... Except for the eyes open part.
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miraculuz (1178)
2006-01-09 02:31:22
The exact same thing always happens to me. I take the bus from my college to home and after a long day, i'm usually very sleepy. I have fell asleep many times but always wake up at the junction before my stop!! It's always there!!
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Anonymous (201)
2006-04-01 03:58:38
@: ThatOneGuy
What eyes open part!?!? Bother to read the post before you reply illiterate tit.
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mindfreak (4990)
2006-12-28 22:01:54
never happened to me.
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Moshpitmonster (5159)
2007-01-10 22:48:38
Its called your circadian rhythm and its a biological clock that can set itself up to 24 hours. I know what youre talking about because I wake up even if my alarm clock doesnt go off in the morning. We learned about this in a psychology class I'm in.
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ultramel (6409)
2007-03-27 10:13:46
holy f*ck! Do you know how many minutes you wasted writing that crap and how many it took for me to read it? Good Lord man, get a life!
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ChrisEnder (8654)
2007-06-02 04:59:44
I can do this as well on the bus, in bed, anywhere really, I think its because I KNOW that i need to be somewhere or wake up at a certain time and my body justs keep track of the time for me.

Maybe the bus has to do with how many bumps are in the road or something that you are not picking up on but, your mind is.
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eatter123 (10709)
2007-09-20 08:06:09
i get the same thing on my way into town.
i believe that it has to do with you subconsiuse detective thew number of stops the bus make (alowing for normal trafic conditions), because this only happens after the 3rd or 4th time i ride the same route into town.
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