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29 October 2023
You snooze, you lose…err, not anymore. Not in the literal sense, at least, recent research has suggested.
You can sleep easy if you have been worried that pressing the snooze button repeatedly in the morning has been negatively impacting your sleep. According to a new study, “snoozing” has no effect on sleep quality for the majority of people.
Furthermore, according to the study, which was published Wednesday in the Journal of Sleep Research, pushing the button many times over 30 minutes may trigger alertness faster than sleeping through without a break.
Some specialists, however, still advise against it. Dr Mazher Ali, psychiatrist at CARE Hospitals, explained that the additional sleep you get during those few minutes isn’t typically restorative or high-quality. In fact, when you hit snooze, you’re likely to enter a new sleep cycle that you won’t complete before the alarm goes off again.
“This can lead to a phenomenon known as sleep inertia, which is the grogginess and disorientation you feel upon waking from a disrupted sleep cycle. In other words, it can make you feel more tired than if you had just woken up at the first alarm,” Ali told indianexpress.com.
Having said that, Ali did acquiesce some scenarios where getting extra sleep can be beneficial. If you had a particularly short night’s sleep, a few minutes of additional rest might help you feel a bit more refreshed.
However, he emphasised that this should be a rare occurrence. “The key is moderation; a short snooze, once or maybe twice, can be helpful, but frequent snoozing can disrupt your sleep pattern and lead to a less rested feeling overall,” he said.
Dr Ali even recommended a few strategies to sleep better.
While hitting snooze occasionally won’t drastically harm your health, it’s better to focus on establishing healthy sleep habits and a consistent routine to wake up feeling refreshed and alert.
Reference Link
https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/hitting-snooze-alarm-not-bad-9000199/
