While it’s true you maybe to get a few extra minutes of sleep by snoozing your alarm, what you get between meals is not a good thing. “This is sporadic sleep, poor quality sleep that can make you feel less rested,” says sleep specialist Angela Holliday-Bell. And it makes sense when you think about it: Dozing isn’t quite as restful as you’re waking up before you realize it. Below, Dr. Holliday-Bell shares why the sleep-wake pattern triggered by snoozing can make you snooze, the impact of snoozing can affect your health in the long run. How and how to resist the urge.
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Real-time negative effects of snoozing your alarm
Any noise-based alarm tends to activate your sympathetic nervous system: the fight-or-flight response wakes you up with the release of cortisol, which temporarily raises your heart rate and blood pressure. friend. While this is not the best how you wake up (whether it’s a natural awakening or with a gentle, soundless alarm clock), life’s demands may require you to wake up this way, especially if you have to wake up at night. The timing doesn’t suit your natural type of sleep time. The problem with the snooze feature, however, is that it puts your body through the alarm in this high-stress fashion not just once, but many times.
“Fragmented sleep can make you feel worse than you would if you didn’t interrupt your sleep cycle with the snooze button in the first place.” —Angela Holliday-Bell, MD, sleep physician
The second (and third and fourth…) when you wake up after the snooze can be even more difficult than the first, says Dr. Holliday, since you’re more likely to be waking up in the early or mid-cycle, says Dr. Holliday. REM. -Bell. “We go through more REM, aka rapid eye movement, sleep as we approach morning — meaning if you snooze, you’re likely to fall back into REM cycles but there won’t be any time to complete that cycle before the alarm goes off again,” she says. “This sleep fragmentation can make you feel worse than you would if you didn’t interrupt the cycle. my sleep with the snooze button in the first place”.
That’s because sleep inertia — that is, feeling sleepy just waking up — lasts longer when you wake up from a deeper stage of sleep, like REM sleep, than when you wake up from sleep. Lightly, Dr. Holliday said. Bell. And again, because those deeper stages of sleep last longer and are more common in the hours just before you get out of bed, you’re more likely to fall. backside enter one of those periods after the snooze and have more trouble shaking off the sleepiness when your alarm rings again.
Possible long-term limitations of the snooze feature
Over time, snoozing and getting your body and brain shocked by an alarm clock not just once but several times each morning can actually get your heart rate up, according to a recent study. higher rest, according to a recent study. The researchers followed 450 people wearing a device that monitored their heart rate and sleep stages for 10 months and found that those who snoozed their heart rate were on average two beats per minute higher than those who didn’t. And while heart rate isn’t the ultimate, all-in-all of health indicators, a lower heart rate generally implies more efficient heart function and better heart health than a high heart rate.
Besides the potential impact on your heart, the effects of snooze can also cause you to oversleep more often. “If you repeatedly fall asleep after the alarm clock goes off, the clock can become a cryptic signal to alarm,” says Dr. Holliday-Bell. Meaning, you may struggle more with actually waking up on time when you need to, and you may find it easier to oversleep the following nights, she says.
“If you repeatedly fall asleep after the alarm clock goes off, the clock can become a cryptic signal to alarm.” —P. Holliday-Bell
Even if you don’t necessarily go back to sleep between alarms, and you really only use the snooze interval to relax for a few minutes before waking up, that’s probably still not the best idea about Castle. “I always recommend getting out of bed within five minutes of your alarm going off because the more time you spend in bed doing things other than sleeping, the more your brain starts making connections. That is with being in bed rather than sleeping.” Dr. Holliday-Bell. “So if you keep dozing and end up staying up in bed, thinking about the day or how you got to get up early, it can cause your brain to connect those feelings to being in bed, which This dilutes the relationship between bed and sleep. and can affect the quality of your sleep.”
If you still want to take a few quiet minutes for yourself to mentally prepare for the day, try to do so while sitting on a chair in another room, rather than lying in bed.
4 important tips to keep you from getting snoozed, even if you really want to
1. Make sure you get enough sleep
Waking up is always easier the first time you start when you’re not sleep deprived, that’s why Dr. Holliday-Bell’s number one tip to avoid the snooze button is to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep whenever. maybe. .
2. Put your phone or alarm out of reach
According to Dr. Holliday-Bell, when you force yourself to wake up to turn off your alarm clock, you’re less likely to fall asleep. would be if you never left your bed in the first place.
3. Give yourself something to look forward to in the morning
Dr Holliday-Bell adds the motivation to get out of bed is another smart defense against the snooze button. Whether it’s the breakfast you crave, a favorite song you listen to in the shower, or just a few minutes in the early morning sun, if there’s something you look forward to in the morning, you’re less likely to ability to delay your awakening.
4. Try an alarm clock when the sun rises
Again, the sound of a regular alarm clock is not the gentlest way to get your body and mind from sleep to wakefulness in the first place. And by using light instead of sound, the sunrise alarm clock can create a more seamless transition.
While many sunrise alarms also have a sound function, they primarily work by mimicking the dawn light in your bedroom, letting you naturally transition into a lighter sleep phase in the morning. the moment you wake up. And that makes doing so without the help of a snooze button much easier.
