Have you ever been reading a book, only to discover that your eyes are still scanning the page while your mind was doing something else? There's a particular flavor of "oops" as a certain capacity comes back online. Informally, you might call it "knowing what's happening in your field of experience." It can also be called metacognition. Meditation can reduce or eliminate these "oops" moments. It really does feel like one had been sleepwalking through life up until that point, even if it's not literally true. One certainly feels "more conscious" afterward.