Things that happen when you hit the snooze button

May 18, 2020

How often do you hit the snooze button on your phone alarm? Once, twice, or even three times a morning? Hitting the snooze to catch a few extra zzz’s may seem tempting, but the alarm delay can mess with sleep cycles and throw off your day.

Here’s why you should break the snooze-button habit:

It throws off your body’s natural “wake up” routine.

Believe it or not, your body starts preparing to wake almost two hours before you finally open your eyes. By raising your body temperature and releasing chemicals that promote wakefulness, your body and brain are working together to get you up and out of bed.

When you wake after your first alarm, your body is already well into this waking process. But when you drift off after already waking once, your brain and body are more likely to experience what sleep experts call ‘sleep inertia’, which causes that familiar feeling of drowsiness that can last for hours after you wake.

It confuses your brain

Some sleep researchers believe that the use of the snooze button trains your brain to think “just a few more minutes” rather than “time to wake up” when it hears your alarm.

According to a study published in the journal Sleep Medicine, interrupted sleep can negatively impact your mood and attention span as much as getting no sleep at all. So that extra five minutes doesn’t help much.

It messes with your mental and physical health

It only needs a week of poor sleep to mess with hundreds of genes in your body—leading to stress, low immunity, and inflammation. When you’re stressed, you have a harder time focusing and are more prone to feeling snappy or irritable. When your immune system isn’t working properly, you’re more likely to get sick. Worst of all? Experiencing high levels of inflammation could increase your risk for serious health problems like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and cognitive decline.