Snoozing your alarm doesn’t make you sleepier, moodier or less cognitively sharp during the day than getting up straight away
By Sara Novak
18 October 2023
Some say that snoozing your alarm makes you feel less awake during the day, but new research suggests that isn’t the case
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Hitting the snooze button when your alarm goes off may not leave you in a sleepier state than if you just got up straight away.
Researchers have long wondered whether snoozing affects wakefulness or sleep quality. To learn more, Tina Sundelin and her colleagues at Stockholm University in Sweden analysed 31 people, who ordinarily snoozed at least twice a week, while they spent two nights in a sleep laboratory.
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During the first night, the participants were free to go to bed at the same time as they normally would and set their alarm for the normal time they get up, without snoozing.
Around a week later, they returned to the lab, where they set their alarm half an hour before getting up and hit snooze every 9 to 10 minutes.
Immediately upon waking, the participants were given a saliva test to measure their levels of the hormone cortisol, with higher amounts being a sign of wakefulness. They also rated their sleepiness on a scale of 1 to 9 and were tested on their cognition skills and mood, both upon waking and 40 minutes later.