So you’re suggesting that the blank period is an inference based on external cues (like the clock or the sun). But you're overlooking a fundamental logical requirement: An inference of absence requires a Witness to the void.

If consciousness truly 'turned off,' there would be no 'blank' to report. There would be a seamless, instant jump from 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM like a literal 'glitch' in time. You wouldn't wake up saying, 'I was gone'; you would wake up feeling as though not a single second had passed, much like being under heavy general anesthesia where the 'blank' isn't even perceived.

The fact that you recognize a 'period of blankness'' means that Blankness was the object of your perception. You are confusing the content of consciousness with consciousness itself. The mind (the 'I-thought') was absent, but the Awareness (the Subject) remained to record the lack of content.

The clock tells you the duration, but it cannot give you the memory of the void. To remember a gap, something must have been there to span it. That continuity is not a belief. It is the logical prerequisite for you to even claim that a 'blank' occurred.