Sleep Better: Should The Snooze Button Be Put To Bed? (VIDEO)

The alarm goes off and all you want to do is stay under the covers. In desperate times, you might think hitting the snooze button is your saving grace -- but experts say that snoozing could actually be hurting your sleep.

In fact, forcing your body to drift in and out of sleep by hitting snooze disrupts your natural cycles through the different stages of sleep, which could decrease the restorative properties of a good slumber.

Watch the video above to find out how snoozing deprives us of sleep. Then tell us in the comments what you think. Do you use the snooze button? Do you feel rested when you snooze?

For more on sleep, click here.

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Comments

[MaryfromIL]

05:11 AM on 03/21/2012

I have arthritis in my shoulders, and it's painful now to hit the snooze, yet I'm on meds that make me sleepy and hard to wake up.

I love my snooze so much that I now take it into bed with me, to avoid the snooze button arthritis pain.

The snooze is more active in the bed than my ex ever was.{;>P

To speak up for the non-morning worker, everyone gives kudos to the early riser. But we late risers frequently live and think out of the box, maybe that sleep gives us creativity.

My sis is an artist, gets up later than most. But she outlived all the others in her position who were laid off, because her creativity is off the charts. She's frequently working at 10pm.

I did some innovative cost efficiency in my spare time at work (7pm), after coming it at 10am in the morning. Saved the company millions.

So don't hate the late sleeper. Punctuality may not be our best quality, but we have others that are as or more important.

[gdzilla2]

07:52 PM on 03/20/2012

Anytime I have had to deal with a person who is late and says, " oh, I hit the snooze button one too many times" I want to punch them right in the face and tell them to grow up and get out of bed when the alarm goes off.

[Sumz54]

02:28 AM on 03/21/2012

There's a lot of people (like me) with sleep disorders that have problems getting up, you should be very hopeful that if you ever have a health problem no one treats you with the same attitude. Found out I had mild sleep apnea and using a CPAP has at least greatly lessened the problem of me not remembering turning the alarm off or hitting snooze ten times, or getting into (angry) arguments with people trying to wake me - I 100% would not remember, and I would wake up in utter confusion and often ramble about elephants or other weird things (sleep drunkenness happens with sleep apnea and other sleep disorders). However, I also have a circadian rhythm disorder (which is a sleep disorder) DSPS (delayed sleep phase syndrome disorder) which means your circadian rhythm is shifted forward so your body tells you to go to sleep much later and wake up later (much later than the normal 7 am weekday wake time). The doctor also suspects hypersomnia with long sleep time, which along with the DSPS makes it difficult for me to wake up in the morning (but much less than the hours it used to take me before the sleep apnea was corrected). Anyhoo though, millions of sleep apnea sufferers are undiagnosed which makes them very tired during the day and often have a lot of trouble waking up - if you're not willing to acknowledge possible health causes, that *you* need to grow up.

[MaryfromIL]

05:04 AM on 03/21/2012

anger issues much?

[MaryfromIL]

05:02 PM on 03/20/2012

I always needed 9 hours sleep to feel rested, 7.5 hours minimum. Because of that, I had to set 3 alarms around the room to ensure I woke up.

If I don't use the snooze, I get up out of sorts and it lasts for hours. Snooze button helps me ease out of my heavy, heavy sleep into wakefulness, slowly. I will then be in a good mood.

[wtf is this]

01:09 AM on 03/21/2012

I have the same issues. Actually get migraines if I wake up too suddenly. I have a light alarm that works wonders. Starts lighting up about 1/2 hr before the alarm goes off -- its been a far more pleasant way to wake up. You may want to give one a try.

[MaryfromIL]

05:02 AM on 03/21/2012

Do you mean physical light, or light sounding alarm?

The light sounding alarms I've always slept thru. Heck, when I used to have 3 alarms set around the room, I'd still oversleep about once a month. I frequently fall asleep with the light on, that won't wake me up.

Now I'm on steroids and have a sleep disorder. It was a barrel of monkeys when I was working and had to drink caffeine to function with all the meds. Now I just go to sleep about 3am (or 4am, check the time of this post) and get up really late.

[Sumz54]

02:17 AM on 03/21/2012

Yup light therapy is good like the above poster said, also using a strict schedule of melatonin - it sounds like your circadian rhythm is off because you shouldn't be in a very deep sleep in the morning, you should only go into the deep, slow wave sleep the first part of the night and as the cycles go on, the time you spend in it should decrease and by the morning there shouldn't be deep sleep at all. I know it's easier said than done though, I have a circadian rhythm disorder and it's very difficult to get it on a normal night time schedule.

[Open Circles]

11:39 AM on 03/20/2012

I'm one of those guilty snooze button users. Probably spend 15 to 20 minutes a morning in and out of snooze. I'm going to read the articles but I'm curious if hitting that snooze 2 times really has any impact on my overall sleep? I may loose 20 minutes of sleep but what are the other impacts or are there any. Right now, I'm not sold.

[kidochick]

12:36 PM on 03/20/2012

I agree with you. When my alarm goes off, it is after I have had my restful, restorative sleep. I just like to hit snooze and feel like I am getting away with something! Plus sometimes I have bizarre little dreams in those minutes!

[Gregory Schwartz]

11:28 AM on 03/20/2012

Since I'm retired, I am fortunate to wake up when I want to. It all depends on whether I fall asleep before midnight or after 2am. Even when I had to go to work, the alarm clock rarely went off in the mornings. My "inner clock" woke me up early, so I could have a slow, leisurely morning. By the time I got to work, I would be wide awake, alert and ready for a productive day. These days, it gets more and more difficult to get up in the morning. If I have something nice to look forward to, I can get up early, with a good attitude and eager to have a productive day.

[cwav8r]

11:22 AM on 03/20/2012

For anyone who hates to get up at the butt crack of dawn, the snooze button is a wonderful invention. I love being able to drift back off a few times in my warm cocoon.

[mchorni]

10:51 AM on 03/20/2012

If I hit the snooze more than 3 times, I'm out like a light and don't hear the alarm going off. I can sleep through the "buzzing" another hour, then wake up in a panic because I'm late!

[wetwille007]

10:17 AM on 03/20/2012

I am not a snooze button person - my wife of 8 years uses it 4-5 times before getting up, and then she just drags about anyway. Myself, I purposely avoid falling back to sleep when the snooze goes off, as I know I will just be really dissapointed getting woke up 7-8 minutes later. And I agree with the idea that there is no point teaching your body that it might fall asleep, only to be disrupted again - that is asking for some serious insomnia issues to develop. Some people are more morning people, so that may be a factor too.

[brokenleoheart]

10:08 AM on 03/20/2012

I HATE SNOOZING! my boyfriend has this "GENIUS" idea that if he keeps on waking up and falling asleep, his body thinks hes sleeping more, because he falls in deep sleep and his body thinks hes not getting enough. THEREFORE he puts the alarm an HOUR before when hes suppose to get up, and snoozes it like TEN TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
seriously, people who snooze are just straight up lazy.

[MaryfromIL]

04:59 PM on 03/20/2012

spoken like a morning person.

[matilda81]

05:11 PM on 03/20/2012

I agree. People that are morning people just don't get it. I've never been a morning person and it has been the bane of my existence! lol Even as a toddler and a baby, I wanted to sleep in. I don't get any real energy until around 8:00 at night. I recently read somewhere that certain people have weird circadian rhythms and that there is a way to reset them by not eating many hours before bed. Maybe I'll try it soon.

[brokenleoheart]

12:31 PM on 03/21/2012

im actually not a morning person, but i set my clock and i make sure i get up once it rings, not giving myself excuses.

[MaryfromIL]

05:00 PM on 03/20/2012

That's like me saying people who go to bed before 3am, my bed time, are just lazy.

We all have different inner clocks.

[Suzanne Waters]

09:47 AM on 03/20/2012

Great timing of this story for me. I've been wondering about this the last few days. I tend to hit the snooze button for about 45 minutes every morning and have begun wondering whether I'm getting any benefit out of that last stretch of sleep. Problem is, if I set it for later, I may think I have another 45 minutes. It takes me a while to become coherent enough to realize "its morning, I have to get up".

[joebikerchef]

09:44 AM on 03/20/2012

For the last 20 years or so, I seem to wake up a few minutes before the alarm goes off...

If a fishing trip is involved, I may not be able to sleep at all!

[AxlTheDog]

09:23 AM on 03/20/2012

I have a horrible habit of setting my alarm for 3:30 a.m. and snoozing anywhere from 4:30 a.m. to 6 a.m.. I do this because I like getting an early morning run and dog walk in. But a lot of times I think it's just exhausting. Going in and out of sleep every 9 minutes for over an hour gets tiring - no pun. I have to snap out of that habit.

[wllharrington]

09:08 AM on 03/20/2012

The best alarm in the world is my dog and she does NOT have a snooze button.

[Amy E Baggott]

12:55 PM on 03/20/2012

There's no snooze button on a hungry cat either.

[MaryfromIL]

05:00 PM on 03/20/2012

Main reason I don't have pets

[FSMbaby]

08:41 AM on 03/20/2012

When I hit the snooze I feel like I'm breaking the rules. It's like I'm getting away with sleeping a little longer. It's pretty stupid, I guess, but I like it.

[mikely48]

07:51 AM on 03/20/2012

When you don't want to get up, you don't want to get up. Hitting the snooze has never helped me to want to get up...unless I hit it and roll on my back (I can't really sleep on my back). I can then lie there waking or semi-awake realizing I have to get up next time the alarm goes off.
Whatever works, eh?!