If you spend a good chunk of time snoozing alarms on your phone before getting up in the morning, you're not alone. A new study looking at the sleep habits of smartphone users around the world shows that hitting the snooze button is a widespread phenomenon.
Thanks to smartphones, it's easier to snooze than ever. But sleep experts caution that repeated snoozing, aka intermittent alarms, may not leave us more rested after all.
“Using the snooze button is a very common practice, but it’s not widely studied in the medical literature," Rebecca Robbins, Ph.D., sleep scientist Brigham and Women’s Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, tells TODAY.com.
A new study published on May 19 in Scientific Reports investigated snoozing behavior among a large global sample of adults. “We attempted to quantify just how prevalent the use of snooze alarm is and what it means for our sleep,” says Robbins, the study’s lead author.
Snoozing trends among phone users
Researchers at Mass General Brigham analyzed sleep data from the app “SleepCycle” from more than 21,000 users worldwide. (The default snooze time on the app is five minutes.)
Of the 3 million sleep sessions studied, 56% ended with a person using snoozing the alarm in the morning. The snooze button was pressed on average two and a half times, and people spent an average of 11 minutes snoozing between alarms, the authors note.
Among these subjects, about half (45%) were classified as "heavy snoozers," which means they snoozed more than 80% of sleep sessions. These heavy snoozers pressed the snooze button an average of four times and spent 20 minutes snoozing.
Unsurprisingly, users relied on the snooze alarm the most during the work week (Monday through Friday) and least on Saturdays and Sundays.
There are many possible reasons why so many people snooze and have multiple alarms go off, says Robbins. The smartphone, which has replaced the alarm clock, is one of them.
Traditional digital or analog alarm clocks, which may or may not have a snooze function, lived on the nightstand. In order to snooze, people had to sit up, reach for their alarm clock and press a button.
Our phones are usually inches from our face in bed. "On most smartphones, the snooze feature after an alarm goes off is a very large button on the screen," says Robbins. All it takes is one quick tap to get a little extra sleep.
However, the sleep we get after hitting snooze isn't actually that restorative, Robbins notes, and snoozing excessively may be linked to poorer sleep hygiene. The researchers observed that heavy snoozers demonstrated more erratic sleep behaviors.
Is snoozing bad for you?
Some rely on snoozing for a smoother transition from sleeping to being awake. Others may feel worse after falling back asleep for a few minutes. The health impacts of snoozing have been widely debated. Sleep is very individual, and so is snoozing.
Some earlier research suggests hitting the snooze button may not be so bad for you. A 2023 study published in the Journal of Sleep Research showed that snoozing did not impact sleep quality and may offer cognitive benefits, but the results were subjective.
However, many sleep experts agree that repeated snoozing can be detrimental to our sleep, according to Robbins.
The main reason is that setting an earlier alarm and snoozing multiple times can cut into deeper sleep in the morning. “Some of the most vital stages of sleep take place right before we wake up,” says Robbins. These include rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is when most dreaming occurs.
"Hitting the snooze alarm will interrupt these crucial stages of sleep and typically only offer you some light sleep in between alarms,” says Robbins. The sleep people get while snoozing is often poor quality, the study authors wrote.
Instead of staying in REM sleep for longer, you get short bursts of less restorative sleep. "Your sleep will be fragmented, leaving you without the additional benefits of added rest," Robbins says.
In a 2019 study in Sleep Health, sleep scientists concluded that sleep fragmentations, such as those caused by snoozing, may have adverse effects on mood. Snoozing may also worsen sleep inertia, a temporary feeling of grogginess after waking up, says Robbins.
While snoozing can disrupt sleep, future research is needed to understand the impacts on daytime performance and health, the study authors added.
However, one thing is certain: Sleep is vital. Most adults need at least seven hours of sleep per night for optimal health. "The quality and quantity of our sleep powers our waking success," says Robbins.
Tips to wake up without snoozing
Waking up in the morning can be a challenge, but repeated snoozing should be avoided, the study authors note. Instead, try these strategies to get as much sleep as possible and wake up faster:
- Set your alarm for latest possible time.
- Get out of bed when it goes off.
- Avoid going on your phone.
- Get in the light.
"The best approach for optimizing your sleep and daytime performance is to set your alarm for the latest possible time," says Robbins. Setting your alarm for the latest realistic time allows you to get more consolidated, uninterrupted REM sleep.
"If you have to be at work at 8 and it takes you 30 minutes to get ready and 30 minutes to (commute), set your alarm for 7, no earlier," says Robbins.
When the alarm goes off, try to commit to getting up. It can be challenging to leave a cozy bed, but this is often the most efficient way to start the day, Robbins notes.
The first thing most of us do after waking up is go on our phone and check social media, texts or emails. However, this habit may worsen feelings of anxiety, Robbins says, which can make it more daunting to get up.
Instead, Robbins recommends trying stretching and mindfulness techniques. "Reach your arms overhead, stretch out your legs, flex your feet and point your toes."
"Then, take deep breaths and focus on one positive thing that will get you excited about the day and motivated," says Robbins.
Finally, try to get some sunlight. "Exposure to daylight helps turn off the flow of melatonin in the brain and allows you to start your day," says Robbins. If you can't step outside, stand by the window.
"It's also important to be aware of sleep inertia because it's one reason people rely on the snooze alarm," says Robbins. Sleep inertia is a natural part of the waking process and typically lasts for 15–60 minutes after waking up, but it does go away.
“One could wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but by and large, for all of us there’s a bit of a transition,” says Robbins. So it’s normal to wake up and want to rest longer, even after a good night’s sleep.
"We're not all going to wake up and feel perfect, it takes time to ease into the day," says Robbins — but repeatedly hitting that snooze button probably isn't the answer.
