Does Hitting the Snooze Button Help or Hurt?

Does Hitting the Snooze Button Help or Hurt?

Phew, when it’s bitterly cold, dark and the wind is howling, it is very easy to hit the snooze button!

Or has this happened to you: you switch OFF your alarm, to ‘rest your eyes’ for a minute, and the 'next minute', it is 45 mins later!

OUCH ... you then jump out of bed with a jolt, and your heart is racing. Not a great way to start the day !

Besides suffering from ‘insufficient sleep’ … why do we do this? When we ‘wake up’, our brains are slightly 'impaired', and we have something called ‘sleep inertia’.

Sleep inertia is that horrid grogginess that you feel when waking. It is that temporary state between being asleep and being awake. In South Africa we say we feel 'dof' ... our brain hasn't 'kicked into gear'... yet!

Why you shouldn't snooze your alarm clock? The problem with snoozing your alarm clock is that the fragmented sleep that it brings can affect the rest of your day.

In fact it can make you feel sluggish and tired for the rest of the day. According to Dr. Aarthi Ram, a neurologist specializing in sleep medicine at Houston Methodist: "The 10 more minutes of sleep you're granting yourself over and over and over isn't productive sleep. If anything, all of that interrupted sleep will make you feel more groggy. "This is because pressing the snooze button may throw off your sleep cycle, your circadian rhythm. Not only can this leave you feeling fatigued, and more tired during the day, it might also affect other things too, such as your metabolism, energy levels and more.

So what, now what?

‍Here are a few reminders to improve your sleep hygiene:      

*Get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep every night·      

*Go to bed around the same time every night·      

*Wake up around the same time every morning·      

*Give yourself about 60-90 mins to wind down before bed,at night·      

*Keep your bedroom quiet, dark and cool (16-18 degrees)·      

*No caffeine for 8 hours before you go to bed·      

*Limit alcohol, and avoid ANY screen time for 60-90 mins before bed·      

*Avoid drinking large amounts of fluid just before bed·      

*Exercise  regularly (even a 15 min / day is good) - The consistency of daily exercise is key!

‍#sleep#energy #selfawareness #bounceforward #selfcare #consistencyiskey