Why you need to stop hitting the snooze

Most of us know how tempting it is to have just five more minutes when our alarm clock sounds in the morning, but this is why you need to stop hitting the snooze

Mornings: We lean over, half asleep and in those few moments decide that all we need is an extra few minutes to wake us up. It might be hard to believe in those sleepy moments, but snoozing might not actually be the best way to start our days. In fact, it may be doing us more harm than good!

Say no to snooze

According to Dr Nazim Nathani, sleep expert at The London Sleep Centre, the problem with snoozing is that the sleep we’re getting “is pretty fragmented.” We’re tricking our brains into thinking that it’s entering a whole new sleep cycle so “the end result is that we spend more time in bed, but with a non-restorative sleep,” leaving us with that groggy feeling when we do wake up. And we’re not alone; it is estimated that Brits lose an astonishing eight days’ worth of sleep each year and 62 per cent of us need between 15 minutes and an hour after waking before we feel human again.

Cycle power

Like other animals and plants, we’ve adapted to a 24-hour cycle, otherwise known as our circadian rhythms. Co-ordinated by a “master clock” in the brain they’re important influencers of sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, body temperature and other bodily functions. Dr Nathani explains that because “we’re a sleep-deprived society, the work pressure and social lives we live mean that there’s a pressure to overcome the natural circadian rhythm and sleep less.” One in three Britons regularly struggles to get a good night’s sleep, with stress, computers and taking work home often to blame for the lack of quality slumber.

So if you woke up this morning feeling sleepy and in desperate need of another few minutes, there are two things wrong. First, you’re probably sleep-deprived – you haven’t had the right amount for you individually. But also, your body’s natural rhythm is out of sync.

Professor Jason Ellis, Slumberdown expert, tells us that “in essence, our sleep works on around 90 minute cycles and the ideal way to wake up in the morning is just at the end of a sleep cycle. The problem with snoozing is that we may go back to sleep and then enter into another sleep cycle. If this happens, it’s likely to make us feel worse when we do eventually have to get up in the morning.” In this drowsy state, temptation to hit snooze again is high, so it’s no wonder that when our alarms go off we don’t always make the optimal decision! But apart from feeling groggy, what other health impacts does poor sleep and snoozing have?

Getting into debt

“If we sleep late and try to wake up early we’ll develop sleep debt”, which affects “our mental and physical ability and emotional wellbeing,” says Dr Nathani. The results from The Great British Sleep Survey show that “the worst effect of poor sleep isn’t how we feel at night – it’s how it affects us during the day, both psychically and emotionally. Long-term poor sleepers are seven times more likely to feel helpless than good sleepers and five times more likely to feel alone, but also twice as likely to have relationship problems, suffer daytime fatigue and lack of concentration.” Regular poor sleep puts us at risk of serious medical conditions including obesity and it shortens our life expectancy. It’s now very clear that a solid night’s sleep is essential for a long and healthy life.

Rise and shine!

Fortunately there is a way out! Dr Ellis explains that “the best thing to do is set the alarm for the time you have to get out of bed, and not include snooze time, and when it goes off get out of bed and get the day moving straight away. This will help get rid of that post sleep groggy feeling.” It is also important to get The Sleep Foundation’s daily sleep allowance of at least sevem hours to avoid getting into ‘sleep debt’. Keeping our bodies in sync and getting enough quality sleep should help us feel more awake in the mornings, banishing the need to snooze. Who wants to hear their alarm clock sound more than once in the morning anyway? We sure don’t!

Helpful links

For tips to improve your sleep please visit: sleepfoundation.org/sleep-tools-tips/healthy-sleep-tips

For more gentle awakening during the lighter phase of your sleep cycle we suggest:

• Sleepcycle.com – an alarm clock for iOS and Android that uses a 30 minute window to wake you up in your lightest sleep phase.

• Lumie.com/collection/light-therapy-waking – an alarm clock which gradually gets brighter during the last 30 minutes of your sleep, stimulating the production of hormones that help us get up and go.