Love hitting the snooze button in the morning?
Setting multiple alarms before you actually have to get up might feel like it helps ease you into the morning, but experts say it could be hurting your sleep in the long run.
“Oftentimes within the sleep field, sleep scientists and physicians will criticize snoozing because you’re decreasing the amount of rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep that you’re going to be getting. We spend more of our time during the latter part of sleep in REM sleep, or we call it dream sleep, and REM is a really crucial stage for brain health, memory consolidation and processing emotions,” explained Michelle Drerup, PsyD, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist with Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Drerup said that since much of our REM sleep happens in the early morning hours of our sleep period, it’s best to avoid chronic snoozing so you don’t interrupt it.
When it comes to an alarm, it’s best to set it for the time you actually need to get out of bed.
Since that’s easier said than done, Dr. Drerup recommends putting your alarm across the room.
Getting yourself moving when you first wake up can help with the urge to keep hitting snooze.
If you’re still struggling to get out of bed every morning, you may simply not be getting enough sleep or have an underlying sleep disorder.
“People who are snoozing a lot might have a lot of disrupted sleep at night,” Dr. Drerup said. “It could be sleep apnea, causing fragmented, non-restorative sleep – or insomnia, where they’re waking up or having difficulty falling asleep. They then try to catch more sleep in the morning.”
Dr. Drerup said bringing up any sleep issues with your doctor is a good first step.
They can help identify if you need further testing, like an overnight sleep study.