Should I Hit the Snooze Button?
The most effective alarms are noisy and harsh. They are foolproof because they trigger a primal bodily fear response. In short, they give you a touch of morning terror.
That loud morning buzzer triggers instinctive survival responses in an area deep in the brain called the amygdala. Your heart rate soars as cortisol and the fight-or-flight hormone adrenaline stream through the body—just in case you need to run for your life. Clearly, there is no wild beast about to pounce, and when your conscious mind realizes this, the adrenaline surge fades and you may doze off again. But hit the snooze button, and you are about to add insult to injury. An extra 10–15 minutes simply is not long enough for you to be able to sink back into a refreshing sleep. When the alarm shocks you awake, you suffer the same biological torment all over again. Repeated surges of fear-fueled adrenaline may well force you out of bed but over time can put your mood on a downer and affect your physical health; years of stressful wakenings actually contribute to the clogging of blood vessels, which can in turn increase the risk of heart problems.
It’s best to set the alarm for your desired waking time, then get up right away. If you really want that extra snooze, allow yourself at least 45 minutes to reap some benefit. Or see the box on the left for tips to help reduce your reliance on the dreaded alarm.
want to beat the alarm?
1
leave the curtains open overnight to allow daylight into your bedroom as early as possible; sensors in the back of the eye detect the dawn through your eyelids, priming the body clock for morning.
2
set the central heating to come on at least half an hour before you wake, to mimic the temperature change as the sun rises.
3
rig a time switch to your bedside lamp and fit a “daylight” bulb; set it for half an hour before the alarm to jump-start the cortisol surge.