Snoozing is surprisingly universal, but it interrupts deep sleep stages and may harm overall sleep quality—especially for daily snoozers.
Despite being frowned upon by sleep experts, hitting the snooze button is
a global morning ritual—one embraced by more than half of sleepers in a massive
study.
From analyzing millions of nights of data, researchers found that
snoozing may disrupt crucial REM sleep and make mornings even harder.
Waking Up Wrong?
The Snooze Button Habit
If you reach for the snooze button in the morning,
you’re in good company. While sleep experts typically advise against snoozing
after your alarm goes off, a new study shows it’s an incredibly common habit.
Researchers at Mass General Brigham analyzed sleep
data from over 21,000 people using the Sleep Cycle app, which tracks nighttime
habits. What they found might surprise you: the snooze button was used in close
to 56% of the 3 million sleep sessions studied. On average, people spent about
11 extra minutes in bed after their first alarm. Nearly half of the
participants snoozed on more than 80 percent of mornings, with these “heavy
snoozers” spending around 20 minutes per day hitting snooze.
Inside the
Study: Key Snooze Statistics
“Many of us hit the snooze alarm in the morning with
the hope of getting a ‘little more sleep,’ but this widely practiced phenomenon
has received little attention in sleep research. In a global sample we found
that more than half of sleep sessions end in a snooze alarm, and users spent an
average of 11 minutes in between snooze alarms each morning before waking,”
said lead author Rebecca Robbins, PhD, in the Division of Sleep and Circadian
Disorders Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the
Mass General Brigham healthcare system.
Snooze patterns changed depending on the day of the
week. People were far more likely to snooze during the workweek, especially
from Monday through Friday. Usage dropped on the weekends, when people
presumably felt less pressure to get out of bed at a specific time.
Short Sleepers
vs. Heavy Snoozers
Snooze alarm
utilization was lower among those sleeping five or fewer hours. According to
the researchers, this could be because short sleepers are cutting sleep short
due to occupational responsibilities, which would require them to wake up and
start their day, leaving little time for a snooze. Heavy users of the snooze
alarm (those relying on snooze alarm on more than 80% of mornings studied)
spent on average 20 minutes in between snooze alarms. Heavy snooze alarm users
also demonstrated more erratic sleep schedules than other categories of users.
People in the U.S., Sweden, and Germany had the
highest snooze button use, while those living in Japan and Australia had the
lowest.
Why Experts Warn
Against Snoozing
“Unfortunately, the snooze alarm disrupts some of the most important stages of sleep,” said Robbins. “The hours just before waking are rich in rapid eye movement sleep. Hitting the snooze alarm will interrupt these critical stages of sleep and typically only offer you light sleep in between snooze alarms. The best approach for optimizing your sleep and next day performance is to set your alarm for the latest possible time, then commit to getting out of bed when your first alarm goes off.”
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