THE ESSENTIAL
- The English term “snooze” means snooze, small nap.
- A “good night”, according to Inserm, is between 4 and 6 successive cycles of 90 minutes on average. Each cycle is itself made up of three distinct phases: light slow-wave sleep, deep slow-wave sleep and paradoxical sleep.
Ah, the famous “Snooze” function of our alarm… Many of us use and abuse it in the early morning, delaying the fateful moment of getting out of bed by a few minutes, even if it means going back to sleep immediately to pursue an interrupted dream. .. Nearly two out of three French people admit to using it regularly. Wrongly, according to neuroscientists, because if the respite is pleasant at the time, it is not good for health.
We secrete cortisol, the stress hormone, every time we wake up.
The explanation is simply biological. Each transition from sleep to awakening is experienced by the body as violence, shock, threat. Indeed, each time we wake up, the body secretes a dose of cortisol, the stress hormone, which will “force” us to activate ourselves by delivering the energy necessary for the muscles, the brain and the heart. . This is what allows us to emerge almost serenely from the apathy of sleep when the alarm clock rings.
However, if we press the “snooze” button, go back to sleep and wake up several times, we multiply the attacks on the nervous system. Each reminder of the alarm disorients the body a little more, which no longer knows whether to fall asleep or start moving. By going back to sleep after turning off the alarm clock, you unwittingly relaunch a new sleep cycle (1h30 on average) which will therefore be broken by the second ring.
The risk is to prolong the natural transition phase between sleep and wakefulness: usually 15 to 30 minutes, this can last up to 4 hours by dint of “snoozing” too much – 4 hours of drowsiness, clumsiness , confusing! Regardless of whether they have slept enough, the sleeper will feel like they had a bad night, and their mood will suffer, with significant consequences on long-term mental health (episodes of depression, memory problems. ..).
Putting off the alarm is also bad for the heart
Abusing the snooze button isn’t just bad for the brain, it’s also bad for the cardiovascular system. “As if alarming – literally – your heart every morning wasn’t enough, the ‘reminder’ function will assault it repeatedly over a very short period of time”says specialist Matthew Walker, of the Center for Human Sleep Science, to the British daily The Independent.
In practice, it is therefore wiser to treat yourself to an extra half-hour of uninterrupted sleep, by delaying your alarm, rather than inflicting a series of awakenings every 5 minutes. Another solution, set your alarm clock ten minutes before zero hour to take the time to emerge before getting up… being careful not to fall back into the seductive arms of Morpheus.