I wake up to the pitter patter of little feet rather than an alarm in the morning, so I don’t think much about the “snooze” button.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not snoozing. Instead of hitting a button on my alarm clock, I’m choosing to roll over instead of get out of bed when Greg’s alarm goes off. I’m telling my 5 year old I’ll be “right down” and then falling back asleep while he gets his own cereal. (Typing that makes me feel like a horrible parent; but he loves getting his own cereal, and typically Greg goes right down, so I’m just a horrible SPOUSE, which is, um, way better.)
Not only am I missing the chance to hang out with my 5 year old while he pours his cereal, I may also be setting myself up for a rough day.
When you hit the snooze button, you interrupt your body’s natural waking process, by moving yourself back into the sleeping part of the cycle instead of the waking part of the cycle. Then, when the alarm goes off later, you’re even more groggy and tired than you were before
Greg told me he’d read an article about this phenomenon, and a quick google search trying to find said article came up with dozens of articles about why you should get out of bed the first time you wake up, and not roll over and try to catch some extra z’s. (Notable sources: Huffington Post, The New Yorker, Gizmodo, Slate, and CNN.) I also read one article from Business Insider in defense of the snooze button… but it is more an argument for “gentle awakening” and lengthening the wake-up cycle, not rolling over and heading back into a deep sleep. Despite being titled “Why You Should Hit the Snooze Button” it ends with the sentence “You’d be better off getting that extra 10 to 20 minutes of real sleep rather than doing that dance with the alarm clock.”
Seems like the anti-snooze verdict is pretty solid.
This video by AsapSCIENCE and shared by Lifehacker is a perfect summary of what I read:
Anti-Snooze in Practice: I got out of bed this morning and yesterday morning as soon as I woke up; which was before the kids both days. Two days in a row; someone get me an award.
I do feel less groggy this morning; but I think the biggest difference will come from implementing this on the weekend, when I tend to sleep in at least one morning, costing myself a few daytime hours and often throwing myself into a groggy fog until I’ve had a chance to shake it off with exercise.
Will I have the willpower to stop sleeping in? Maybe. It’s a logical way to improve my life, and it’s arguably a lot easier than becoming a half marathoner.
I’ll still be wanting that coffee… though.
Do you snooze? Have you ever tried giving it up?
I am not a snooze alarm person. I tend to get up when the alarm goes off. If I have to get up really early to catch a flight, I may set a back-up alarm. However, my hubby John is addicted to the snooze alarm and when I tried to give him that same argument a few years ago he did not buy it and still does not. He would have the snooze alarm go off about 6 times but I told him for the sake of our marriage there is a 2 alarm limit – the alarm and one snooze when I’m in town.
It’s so hard when one person snoozes and the other doesn’t! I think consideration for Greg is what would get me out of bed the fastest when I used to set my alarm for the occasional 5 a.m. long run… I couldn’t stand the thought of the alarm going off more than once that early, and it got me out the door.