Have you ever found yourself setting three, four, or even five alarms just to make sure you wake up on time? While it might seem like a foolproof plan to ensure you don’t oversleep, hitting that snooze button repeatedly could be doing more harm than good. Let's dive into why relying on multiple alarms might be undermining your sleep quality and overall well-being.
The Illusion of Extra Sleep
“It’s satisfying in the moment to hit the snooze and delay getting out of bed and starting the day, but it does actually fragment and undermine that sleep quality,” says Dr. Brandon Peters, a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle. [1]
When you wake up and then hit the snooze button to catch a few extra minutes of sleep, it may feel like you're getting more rest. In reality, you're disrupting your sleep cycle. Those extra minutes are not as restorative as continuous sleep would be, leaving you feeling groggy and less refreshed.
Fragmenting Your Sleep Stages
As the Principal Psychologist and Director of Therapeutic Services at the Gold Coast’s Mood & Mind Centre, Dr. Angela Bradley says she does not recommend setting multiple alarms as this may negatively impact mood and sleep quality. [2]
Dr. Bradley explains, “Multiple alarm-wake episodes will repeatedly draw you out of the deeper, more productive stages of sleep. Your brain is actively healing and resetting during deep sleep stages, and unnecessary disruption to those processes is not going to help your energy and mood in the long run.” [2] Deep sleep is crucial for physical and mental restoration. Interrupting it with multiple alarms prevents your body from completing these essential processes, ultimately affecting your overall health.
The Consequences of Sleep Disruption
Professor David Hillman from the Sleep Health Foundation highlights another significant issue: “The disruptions by multiple alarms repeatedly arouse the brain then settle, and it’s these repetitive awakenings that disrupt the continuity of the sleep. It’s not an efficient way of getting the extra sleep.” [2]
Each time your alarm rings, your brain goes through a cycle of arousal and settling. These repeated interruptions make it difficult to achieve the deep, uninterrupted sleep necessary for optimal functioning.
Confusing Your Brain
“When you wake up and then hit the snooze button and go back to sleep, it feels good because serotonin gets released. And it feels nice to fall back asleep,” says Dr. Daniel Barone, a neurologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital and assistant professor of neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College. “The problem, though, is that when you wake up 15 minutes later or 10 minutes later, your brain is essentially confused.” [3]
This confusion can lead to sleep inertia, a state of grogginess and disorientation that can last for hours after you finally get out of bed. Instead of feeling refreshed, you might find yourself struggling to fully wake up and start your day.
A Better Way to Wake Up
Dr. Alicia Roth, a clinician at Cleveland Clinic’s Sleep Disorders Center, says “If you have to wake up at 7 a.m., and the alarm starts at 6 a.m., you are getting an hour of bad-quality sleep, instead of just sleeping through until 7 a.m.,” Roth says. [1]
While setting just one alarm is best, Roth acknowledges it might be hard to wake up to only one after using multiple alarms as your safety net. She recommends testing out different alarm clocks, such as those that utilize light or require you to get out of bed to turn them off. [1]
Final Thoughts
Setting multiple alarms might seem like a harmless habit, but it's clear that it can significantly impact the quality of your sleep and overall well-being. By understanding the drawbacks and making simple changes to your morning routine, you can wake up feeling more refreshed and ready to tackle the day. Remember, quality sleep is more beneficial than a few fragmented minutes of extra sleep. Embrace a healthier wake-up routine and enjoy the benefits of uninterrupted, restorative rest.
References:
- Nicioli, T. (2024, June 28). Need multiple alarms to wake up in the morning? Here’s what could be happening, according to experts. CNN.
- Stewart, B. (2016, June 24). Why you need to stop setting multiple alarms to wake you up. Mamamia.
- Chin, K. (2019, January 1). A sleep expert explains why snooze alarms are terrible. Business Insider.
