Playing games with your alarm robs your body of some of its most restorative sleep — and nearly half of us are guilty of this, according to a new study. If you start your day by hitting the snooze button with the belief that you’re squeezing in a few more minutes of quality z’s, sleep experts have a message for you: You’re dreaming.
A new study that analyzed smartphone data from around the world shows that more than half of us hit snooze and spend an average of about 11 minutes snoozing.
Unfortunately, that’s bad news for our health. “The snooze alarm disrupts some of the most important stages of sleep. The hours just before waking are rich in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep,” says lead author Rebecca Robbins, PhD, who works in the division of sleep and circadian disorders medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“So if you hit an alarm and then that interrupts you from that vital stage of sleep, any sleep that you’re going to get after hitting the snooze alarm is really only going to be light sleep and fragmented sleep,” she says. These findings highlight a well-known issue — namely, many of us do not sleep enough, says Neal Walia, MD, a sleep specialist at UCLA Health in Santa Monica, California, who was not involved in the study.
“Essentially when you’re using an alarm, you’re likely waking up before your body has finished sleeping, and you’re more likely to wake up feeling groggy or experiencing something we call ‘sleep inertia.’ Often, we haven’t completed our natural sleep cycles — this is why snoozing can feel so satisfying,” says Dr. Walia.
Frequent Snoozers Average 20 Minutes of Post-Alarm Sleep
To find out more about the snoozing habits of people around the globe, researchers analyzed data from over 21,000 users of a sleep app. Participants hailed from all over the world, but users were most concentrated in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, and Germany, and 54 percent were male.
Investigators found the following snooze patterns:
Close to 45 percent of study subjects (the “heavy snoozers”) hit the snooze button on more than 80 percent of mornings, snoozing an average of 20 minutes a day.
People used the snooze alarm more during the typical work week of Monday through Friday, and Wednesday was the peak snooze day.
Predictably, the snooze function was used the least on the weekends; Sunday was the “least likely to snooze” day.
These findings “absolutely” match what Walia sees in his sleep clinic.
“I frequently see patients whose main concern is their level of grogginess in the morning, leading them to snooze at least several times every day. I also have patients who intentionally set an earlier alarm to effectively wake up with a second alarm later, basically a ‘planned snooze,’” he says.
More Snoozing Means Less REM Sleep
Because REM sleep usually occurs in the latter third of the night, you don't want to miss out on that by snoozing and replacing it with light sleep, Walia says.
REM sleep is part of the normal sleep cycle, and most of us have about four to six cycles per night. While your first REM episode usually lasts just a few minutes, your last cycle (close to when you wake up) could last up to a half hour.
Benefits of REM sleep include improved learning, mood regulation, brain development, and even protection against dementia.
But it’s not quite that simple for everyone, says Walia. “The caveat here is when people wake up from slow wave sleep (also called stage 3), this leads to us feeling the groggiest.”
There’s research to suggest that night owls who are waking up earlier for daytime responsibilities may abruptly interrupt slow wave sleep, which then causes them to wake up groggy, says Walia.
“A common example is a college student waking up for an 8 a.m. class when their circadian rhythm would rather wake up at 10. So for them, snoozing themselves into light sleep for 15 to 30 minutes can make eventually getting out of bed feel a bit easier,” he says.
It’s not clear how this might impact health in the long term for people who do this over and over again, but if you’re using this strategy, you likely aren’t falling asleep early enough, says Walia.
People Who Snooze Most Are More Likely to Have an Erratic Sleep Schedule
Interestingly, researchers found that people sleeping five or fewer hours were less likely to snooze. This could be because short sleepers are cutting sleep because they have to get to work or school, which would require them to wake up and start their day, leaving little time for a snooze, according to the authors.
Heavy users of the snooze button (those relying on the snooze button on more than 80 percent of mornings studied) spent on average 20 minutes in between snooze alarms and had more erratic sleep schedules than other categories of users.
People Living in Japan and ‘Down Under’ Less Likely to Snooze
Researchers found that women were slightly more likely to snooze than men.
Sweden was home to the most frequent snoozers, closely followed by the United States and Germany.
People living in Japan and Australia were the least likely to hit the snooze button.
Bottom Line: Sleep Without Snoozing for as Long as Possible
The main message people should take away is to prioritize consistent sleep and uninterrupted “snooze-free” sleep, says Dr. Robbins.
She suggests being honest with yourself about how long it takes you to get ready each morning and when you need to leave your house.
“Then think critically to consider how you might consolidate the time so that you can set the latest possible alarm that will allow you to wake up, get ready, and get to where you need to go. Stick to that without hitting the snooze button,” says Robbins.
Walia agrees. “Ideally, you’d want your body to complete as much of a natural sleep cycle as possible, so yes — adjusting your alarm to the last possible moment you have to wake up is the best chance to get the restorative sleep stages your body requires.”
As always Stay Healthy, Stay Safe and Be Careful out there
James A Vito DMD