Many people have the habit of hitting the snooze button when they hear the alarm sound. If you can relate to yourself, then you should stop doing it. According to scientific research, hitting the snooze button disturb healthy sleep patterns. It can even leave you in a drowsy state for the entire day.
In this article, we are going to share with you a few reasons why you must give up on your habit of putting your alarm on snooze.
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Why Hitting Snooze Is Not Good For Your Sleep?
There are two kinds of people. Ones who sleep on the best mattress and get out of their bed refreshed as soon as the alarm rings, while others who hit the snooze button to sleep for some more time. Those additional few minutes of sleep may be damaging to the health. Here is how.
- Causes Stress
Alarms trigger an artificial fight-or-flight response that causes an increase in blood pressure and heart rate in the body. Due to this, the body releases more cortisol or stress hormone.
When this situation repeats daily, then it proves dangerous for the body. It can be because you have to wake up feeling stressed which can cause harm to the mental and physical faculties of the body.
- Disturbs natural “wake up” routine
Our body starts to prepare to wake up two hours before the time of sleep. By increasing body temperature and secreting chemicals that cause wakefulness, the brain and bodywork synergistically get you out of bed.
When the alarm rings, the body, and brain have already transited to the waking state. But when you sleep for some time after hitting the snoozing process, the body and brain experience ‘sleep inertia’, which causes a feeling of sleepiness that can continue for a few hours after waking up.
- Snooze makes things worse for the sleep-deprived people
People who do not get proper sleep consistently are sleep-deprived. If they hit the snooze button when their body has not got adequate sleep, then it moves to the start of a complete sleep cycle. Due to this, they will feel more tired.
- Confuses the brain
Another important observation of hitting the snooze button is that it confuses the brain. The habit of hitting the snooze button trains the brain to sleep for some more time than waking up at that instant. If you do it regularly, then it will become hard to wake up from sleep just when the alarm rings.
Tips To Stop The Habit Of Hitting The Snooze Button
If you want to save yourself from the above adverse health effects, the first thing that you would need to do is to stop the habit of snoozing. If you are habitual of putting your alarm clock on snooze daily, then you may need to put in greater effort consistently to come out of it.
- Keep yourself in a semi-awake state after hitting the snooze button. In those additional minutes, you can stretch your body and wake up slowly then again fall asleep.
- Do not keep it for more than nine minutes. Keep the additional relaxation time to only nine minutes in place of 20 or 25 minutes. The longer you will sleep after snoozing, the more it will confuse your brain and increase the chances of sleep inertia.
- Swap your existing alarm with an entirely different one. This is another effective idea to reduce the control of your habit to hit the snooze button daily. Some alarms are designed to gradually wake you up with progressively increasing sound or light. They closely impersonate the natural wake cycle of the body and help you become more wakeful when you come out of bed.
- Invest in a good mattress. One of the reasons why you can’t instantly wake up and need more time to sleep could be due to an aging and sagging mattress. Look for a good one that offers you better support, alignment, and pressure point relaxation so that you wake up feeling refreshed every day. Also, pay attention to your sleeping side, and maintain a fixed sleep routine to easily overcome the habit of snoozing.
Conclusion
So, we have seen that hitting the “snooze” can prove to be detrimental to your sleep and your overall health. Those who are having a hard time getting rid of it should follow the above tips. It will free them from this habit and welcome the day in a better way.