Why Snooze Is Bad For You

Photo by Tumisu at Pixabay

Do you love snoozing your morning alarm to steal that extra dose of sleep? Does it often leave you racing against time in finishing your morning chores before making it to work!! If YES, then you are doing something that is not only harmful for your personal health but also spoiling your entire day. You might be wondering how could an innocuous habit of stealing few minutes could be so damaging? Let’s figure out why? 

Snooze: Double Shocker To The Brain 

Let’s admit the sound of an alarm is nothing less than a rude jolt each morning. Neurologically, an alarm delivers a shock to the nervous system, swinging you into the fight or flight mode. If you snooze and retreat into sleep, you are making your brain release more neurochemicals to sleep deep, to be woken up by a shocker of another alarm. It is similar to multiple assaults on the brain and body as the body again swings back to the fight and flight mode with each snooze, increasing the release of cortisol, the stress hormone. And to be frank no one likes a stressful start to the day!! 

Snooze Harms Your Body  

Hitting the snooze means you want to sleep longer for say 9 mins. This does no good either to make you feel refreshed or energised. Rather it does the opposite as experts say the snooze disrupts the deep sleep brain pattern. The more the number of alarms you set and subject your body to, the more harm you do to the brain and body. If you are tempted to snooze on a daily basis then it can have harmful physiological effects on one’s health. 

 Neuroscientist Professor Matthew Walker warned that repeat “snoozing” daily can cause a spike in blood pressure, acceleration of heart rate, and could lead to heart problems over time. 

Effect Of Snoozing On Your Day  

When you finally wake up realising you are late than usual, you try to race against time in all your morning activities. You are driving with more urgency, ironing your clothes less tidy and of course gulping your breakfast down instead of chewing and relishing it. In rush hour there is a greater chance of skipping over few things that were to be done or picked before leaving for work.  

Ever Thought Why Are You Doing So? 

If you have come to love your snooze button then its time to think if you are getting sound sleep or not. If that’s the case almost every day then it’s time to work on your sleep pattern. You are resorting to snooze as the body is craving for more sleep. How about sleeping 20 minutes earlier than getting up 20 minutes late courtesy snooze? Or listening to some soothing music to relax you better!! 

Why Is Deep Sleep So Important? 

On days you have slept well, the body would automatically feel energised. Sleep is one of the most regenerating and restorative exercises for the mind and body. It is something that shall have good priority as the better you sleep, the better you wake up refreshed and energised. But most of us in the race against time just don’t bother to even pay attention to this aspect of our daily routine. 

Why Focus On First Hour Of Your Day? 

How you start your first one or two hours, sets the tone for your entire day. For me its like conceding defeat if I surrender to my urge to sleep beyond my wake-up time. If the morning is dotted with stress, rush and running from one corner to another, then you have lost the chance to take command of your entire day. Leadership gurus like Robin Sharma exhort people to get up early and plan their day much before the world rises. This is what leaders do to be ahead in the race against time.  

Campaign Against Snooze  

Do you know about the campaign against snooze button. Eve Sleep, a sleep wellness company in Britain asked Apple to delete the snooze button from its Clock app in the next iOS update. It claims that having a 9-minute alarm is damaging to ” their national health” and undermines the benefits of a great night’s sleep. 

“We recognise the startling effect the snooze button is having on millions of Brits every morning and on World Sleep Day we want Apple to join us in urging the nation to refuse to snooze.”

James Sturrock, Eve Sleep’s Chief Exec

So here is hoping that you would now be able to resist the temptation to snooze!! Say no to snoozing and yes to deep sleeping coz once you sleep deep enough, the urge to hit the snooze button would go down the spiral.  

Keep reading #Letsfigureoutlife and do post your comments on the read. If you like this blog and content do share on Social Media platforms, so that other too benefit.  I will keep endeavouring to get the most informative, helpful and educative stuff on this platform. 

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Author: Richha Jain Kalra