You could say snoozing is one of my talents. I’m just really good at it, I can out-snooze anyone, and over the years I’ve truly turned it into an art, if I do say so myself.
Alright, exaggerating is also an art, and one I’ve mastered as well. So let me tone it down a little. I can say with near certainty that I can hold my own against the vast majority of the Netherlands and the Western world
Snoozing is a global health problem. There, I’ve said it. I probably won’t make myself popular with that statement, but I’m going to say it anyway. Snoozing is addictive and unhealthy, yet almost all of us do it again every morning. What is it about the appeal of snoozing? How bad can it really be, and why is it wise to keep it to a minimum?
What happens when you snooze?
When you snooze (yes, that’s really how you spell it), you’re essentially resisting getting up. You choose to ignore the alarm and give yourself another nine minutes. In those nine minutes, you only reach a light sleep, and before you can return to a proper, deep and restorative sleep, your alarm goes off again. You can repeat this endlessly, but that deep sleep remains out of reach.
The time you spend snoozing could have been used for deeper, more restorative sleep that actually provides physical and mental recovery. If you’re a habitual snoozer, this is the same amount of sleep you miss out on every single day, and it can easily mean you never quite reach the amount of sleep you need.
So why do we snooze anyway?
Snoozing is, without exaggeration, truly physically addictive. When we fall asleep, our body produces serotonin, a so-called “happiness hormone.” It makes us feel calm and content. When we snooze, we experience that feeling every nine minutes again and again.
Should I jump out of bed at the very first alarm?
Let’s not start pointing fingers, because as I said earlier, I understand the appeal of a good snooze better than anyone (along with quite a few colleagues). So what you “should” do isn’t really the point. But if you notice that you feel less rested in the morning than expected and often feel tired during the day, then reducing how much you snooze might just pay off. Cutting it out completely may be a step too far for now. Perhaps start by limiting yourself to just one snooze and then get up?
The ideal world
The most ideal scenario is to give your body and mind the space to wake up in their own time. When your body is well-rested enough, you will naturally wake up. Your body then produces dopamine, the substance that replaces melatonin (a true sleep hormone). The result: Good morning!
If you have to get out of bed at a fixed time for work or to take your children to school, waking up naturally isn’t really an option. However, it is something you can train. If you go to bed at the same time every day and get up at the same time (ideally allowing for 7 to 8 hours in between), your body will gradually adapt to that rhythm, start waking up on its own, and eventually you won’t even need an alarm clock anymore.
Bye bye snoozing!
Do or doubt
Another additional benefit of reducing your snoozing habit is preserving your willpower. There is a theory (supported by various studies) that you only have a certain amount of willpower available each day. Willpower can be described as the ability to want something and to follow through on that intention. And if you assume that this amount is fixed or in other words, limited for the entire day, then it makes sense that you’d want to use it wisely.
If you start every day by hitting the snooze button, you’re already using up a significant amount of willpower just deciding whether to get out of bed or stay in it which, all things considered, is quite exhausting. By the time you actually get up, you’ve already dipped deeply into your reserve of willpower, leaving less for the rest of the day. As a result, you may find it harder by the end of the day to resist something tempting you had planned to avoid. Or to go to bed on time, because you’re finally relaxing after a busy day and enjoying a moment of peace. The ultimate vicious cycle.