It’s probably one of the most dreaded sounds: the alarm clock going off at the crack of dawn. It’s tempting to hit the snooze button and snooze for a few more minutes. In fact, at least half of all working people start their day this way. The younger a person is and the more he or she describes himself or herself as a night owl, the more likely he or she is to be considered a snoozer.
Meanwhile, it is often claimed that this has negative effects on sleep, mood and cognitive processes. This is partly due to the fragmentation of sleep by falling asleep and waking up again repeatedly and briefly. Sleep is also unnecessarily shortened if the alarm is set half an hour earlier the night before, so that there is enough time to snooze.
However, these claims have not yet been seriously scientifically investigated. A research team led by psychologist Tina Sundelin from Stockholm University has now made up for this by first asking more than 1,000 people about their sleep behavior and then inviting another 30 study participants for two nights in the sleep laboratory. One morning they were allowed to doze for another half hour after the alarm went off, the next morning they had to get up immediately.
The result: There were no apparent effects of snoozing on stress hormone levels, morning sleepiness, mood or nighttime sleep structure, as the researchers report in the Journal of Sleep Research. Cognitive performance immediately after getting up was also not affected, as shown by tests immediately after getting up. For some, snoozing even improved things. Although snoozing resulted in about 6 minutes less sleep, it prevented you from waking up and getting straight out of deep sleep.
“The results suggest that there is no reason to nap in the morning if you enjoy it, at least not for snooze times of about 30 minutes,” Sundelin said in a press release. “It could even help those who are sleepy in the morning to be a little more alert when they get up.” However, not everyone benefits equally from snoozing. If you have trouble falling back asleep quickly after the alarm goes off and really benefit from the extra rest time, the positive effects may not outweigh the negative effects. (aargauerzeitung.ch)
Source: Watson
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
