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Smurf-Sauce t1_izr1po7 wrote

Reply to comment by Platypuslord in Molecular markers of cells involved in the sixth sense — proprioception, the unconscious sense of body position and movement by marketrent

> time

This can't really be called a sense can it? If sense of time is a biological sense, then so should be sense of distance, or sense of danger, or any other thing we can perceive and roughly calculate.

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truffle-tots t1_izrv0gi wrote

Your body tends to run in circadian (24 hour) and ultradian (90 minute) rhythms/cycles.

There is a bundle of cells known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus that receives light information from the retina. It times those rhythms with sunrise and sunset.

This allows for the proper timing for countless processes within your body.

Cyclic temperature regulation is a good example; in the morning your body cools and in the evening your core body temperature is higher, aiding relaxation and your ability to fall asleep as well as many other things. This is done via these types of rhythmic cycles via the hypothalamus which receives it's timing info from that nucleus (the nucleus is actually a part of the hypothalamus).

REM sleep cycles are another that run on these ultradian rhythms.

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Practice_NO_with_me t1_izr5nmb wrote

I think it is its own separate sense as evidenced by the many times I have not set an alarm but somehow, in my sleep without any conscious thinking, my body knows exactly when I need to be awake. Bare in mind I sleep with a light blocking mask in a dead dark room so it isn't light perception either. Just my experience.

It is also a sense that can be messed with - people trapped in dark spaces like underground or sunken ships will often think it's only been a day when in reality they've been there three days.

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throwaway901617 t1_izr8sw7 wrote

Your body "knows when it needs to be awake" because you've routinely woken at that time and programmed your internal biological clock to wake at that time.

It detects changes in temperature, air pressure etc that occur at that time. That's how it is triggered.

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Atxlvr t1_izrgzpq wrote

The real LPT is always in the comments

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Platypuslord t1_izsliax wrote

You sense danger though others senses like sight, smell, touch, hearing and balance. We have internal clocks and some people are really, really good at knowing what time it is without a watch within a few minutes.

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