Sleep Science 101: The Truth About the Snooze Button

Introduction

Many of us are guilty of repeatedly hitting snooze on our alarms; clinging to those few extra minutes of precious sleep. However, recent scientific studies indicate that snoozing the alarm might not be the best way to start the day. According to sleep specialists, there are numerous reasons why ignoring the alarm could prove to be detrimental in the long run.

Interfering with Your Sleep Cycles

Experts recommend that we go to bed and wake up around the same time every day. This is because the human body physiologically craves routines. Sleep is a dynamic process that includes stages like light sleep, deep sleep, and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. These stages form the sleep cycle, which usually lasts around 90 minutes. Hence, when the alarm goes off for the set time, we would typically be at the end of the REM state because the body is used to the routine of waking at that time. One of the most important reasons to avoid pressing the snooze button is that it disrupts the sleep cycle. When we snooze the alarm, we start a new sleep cycle and then gradually drift to the deep sleep stage, only to be disturbed a few minutes later. This disrupted cycle then repeats every subsequent time we hit snooze. This disruption to sleep cycles can leave a person feeling more drowsy and disoriented, a condition known as ‘sleep inertia’. Sleep inertia interferes with cognitive functioning, making it difficult to concentrate and lowers our productivity and sense of well-being throughout the day.

Messing with Your Body’s Internal Clock

A circadian rhythm is the body’s internal clock and it regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats every 24 hours. When we repeatedly break this rhythm by snoozing the alarm, our bodies receive disorientated messages about when it should be awake and when it should be asleep. This can result in ‘social jet lag’ a condition in which our internal clock is out of sync with our everyday schedule. This misalignment can cause weakness, mood swings and problems sleeping at night.

The Illusion of Extra Sleep

Snoozing the alarm tends to give us a false sense of getting more sleep, but it is rarely beneficial. The quality of sleep during those brief sleep spells is often poor, with shallower sleep stages and frequent awakenings. In simple terms, we’re sacrificing quality for quantity, which can leave one feeling exhausted despite having grabbed some extra minutes of sleep.

Creating Unhealthy Habits

In the long run, snoozing the alarm can become a difficult habit to break resulting in an inability to wake up on time and start the day properly. The initial inertia this causes eventually results in having to rush through morning routines and this further generates anxiety as we attempt to make up for lost time.

Conclusion

Instead of hitting the snooze button to get a few more minutes of sleep, consider setting the alarm for the time you truly need to wake up. Establishing a consistent sleep routine, optimising the sleeping environment, and practising excellent sleep hygiene are more effective methods to wake up feeling energised and lead to improved well-being and greater productivity.