Livestrong speaks to experts about what pushing the snooze button on an alarm clock says about your sleep, and the potential effect it could have on your bed partner.
While those extra moments of sleep can feel precious, they’re not likely high quality or restorative, per the Cleveland Clinic. Throughout the night, you cycle through the four stages of sleep, explains sleep disorder specialist Alicia Roth, PhD. Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes, with REM (aka rapid eye movement) sleep at the end — this isn’t a deep sleep, but where your brain is recharging, she says. The brain activity can lead to vivid dreams, Roth notes.
“When the alarm goes off, most people are transitioning out of REM or light sleep. If you snooze your alarm and go back to sleep, you may be diving right back into REM. But then nine minutes later your alarm goes off again! And you’re pulled out of REM again. Which is a very uncomfortable feeling,” Roth says.
Read more about the snooze button on livestrong.com
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