The Snooze Button – Why It Feels Good but Hurts Your Sleep
It’s a familiar routine: the alarm buzzes, you hit snooze, and drift back to sleep, repeating the cycle until you finally drag yourself out of bed. While it feels comforting, science shows that this habit comes at a cost.
What Happens When You Snooze
Each time you hit snooze, you fragment the final stage of sleep, which is often rich in REM sleep—the stage critical for emotional regulation, creativity, and memory. Interrupting this cycle robs you of restorative benefits.
You also restart sleep inertia—that groggy state upon waking. Think of your brain like a car engine: each time you snooze, you warm it up, shut it off, then restart. This repeated stop-and-go makes the grogginess worse, not better.
The Hidden Strain on Your Body
Research suggests that every alarm triggers a spike in heart rate and blood pressure. While one alarm isn’t harmful, multiple jolts every morning may create mild cardiovascular stress over time.
Better Strategies for Waking Up
Set one alarm. Choose the latest time you can reasonably wake and commit to getting up.
Place your alarm across the room. This forces you to physically get out of bed.
Focus on sleep quantity. If you need the snooze button, it may signal you’re not getting enough rest overall.
Aim for natural wakefulness. With consistent schedules, many people start waking up around the same time without alarms at all.
Is Snoozing the Worst Habit?
No—it’s not catastrophic. But it does chip away at the quality of your rest and may leave you feeling groggier than if you had slept uninterrupted until your alarm. If your goal is to start the day alert and refreshed, snoozing works against you.
