You’ve probably heard the saying, “You snooze, you lose,” right? Still, that’s not enough to stop you from smacking the snooze button like it’s the alarm’s fault, when it’s actually yours because you set it at an ungodly hour. We get it. Just nine more minutes, right? And maybe another nine after that. Before you know it, you’ve turned your phone into a game of Whac-A-Mole, hitting snooze the second it rings.
But according to experts (aka the people who actually wake up on time), hitting snooze is actually bad for your health. (Ikr? How are extra minutes of sleep bad for your health?)
Snoozing Your Alarm Impacts Your Health
In an interview with the New York Post, Dr. Dennis Auckley, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at MetroHealth, said that you should break up with the snooze button ASAP. Auckley said, “The sleep community doesn’t advocate for ‘snoozing’ repeatedly through alarms for several reasons.” The reason for this is that waking up several times to hit the snooze button is just disrupting your sleep. “This means you’ll be cycling back and forth between generally light, nonrestorative sleep and being awake,” Auckley added.
Trying to squeeze in a couple more minutes of shut eye is “not restful” and that you could be “missing out on consolidated better, deeper stages of sleep,” Auckley said. Waking up after constant snoozing can also lead to feeling “unrested and grogginess” once you eventually find the will and the discipline to leave your warm bed.
Auckley also warned that the more you snooze, “the worse it can be.” If you think lack of sleep is the reason why you keep hitting that snooze button in the morning, it could also be a sign of other sleep disorders.
He also advised that frequent snoozers are at risk of “weight gain, cardiovascular disorders, metabolic disorders, and even dementia.”
How to Stop It?
Great question, sleepyhead. Here’s how to win the war against the snooze:
- Put your phone/alarm across the room, so you physically have to get up to turn it off. Cruel but effective. Also, if you’re already up, don’t go back to bed after hitting the snooze button.
- Set a realistic bedtime (no, 2 a.m. is not realistic). Dr. Nathaniel Watson, professor of medicine and co-director of the University of Washington Medicine Sleep Center, said that when you set up an alarm, “You’re setting an artificial time to wake you that’s not in sync with your body rhythm.” To address this issue, track your sleep cycle to figure out what is the optimal time for you to sleep and wake up.
- Focus on what you can get from waking up on time tomorrow. Think about having more than enough time to enjoy your coffee, instead of just inhaling it because you need to leave in 5 minutes to avoid rush hour during the commute. Thinking about all these things you can look forward to can make waking up easier, according to Body Brain Alliance.
So next time your alarm goes off, fight the urge to snooze. Rise, shine, and start your day as if you’re a morning person, or at least fake it until the caffeine kicks in.
