Why the ‘snooze’ button is bad for you
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I’ll admit it. I’ve had a love affair with the snooze button from, oh, around the time I started working. - Although, to be honest, it really started in my lazy-teen school days.
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But emerging science argues that rather than helping us sneak in a few extra zzzzz’s, the snooze button could in fact wreak havoc with our sleep patterns, adding to that morning ‘groggy’ feeling.
Dr Yizhak Kupfer, Assistant Director of Clinical Care and Pulmonary Medicine at the Maimonidies Medical Centre in New York, USA, explains that each night the average person moves through five stages of sleep. During these stages, our brains emit different waves, depending on whether the sleep we experience is light or deep.
Relying on the snooze button can diminish the benefits of a good night’s rest- if you are constantly drifting back to sleep only to be woken abruptly after few minutes of ‘snooze’ time you end up with a shorter, disrupted sleep at the start of your day.
‘Snooze buttoning’ also changes the chemistry of our brains. “Waking up in this manner produces an adrenalin and cortisol release,” says Dr Kupfer, “which causes a person to feel immediately alert.” However the feeling of awake-ness is temporary. It quickly gives way to feeling groggy and disoriented.
Not good news for the ‘snooze’!
If you absolutely must snooze, just hit the button once to minimise the impact on your sleep cycle.
Better still? Make sure you get eight hours sleep a night, stick to a consistent sleep routine and add extra time onto your sleep at the start rather than at the end of your slumber.
Dr Kupfer’s tips for an easier wake-up:
- Try going to bed 30 mins early, even though you might not feel tired
- Turn off the lights, television and computer, as these often stimulate the brain
- Even though it can be difficult, make sure you physically get out of bed when you awake – after a few weeks, you’ll feel more tired in the evenings, making it easier to both fall asleep, and get up the next day.
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