Snooze alarms may cost you vital sleep — three experts weigh in on the habit – CTV
May 26, 2025
When jolted awake by the blare of an alarm clock, it’s tempting to reach for the snooze button to catch a bit more shut-eye. In my case, “just five more minutes” is practically a morning mantra. And what’s the harm?
There’s increasing debate about your snoozing habit, and whether or not it’s silently sabotaging your morning.
On the “stop snoozing” side of the research, sleep scientist Dr. Rebecca Robbins suggests the snooze alarm may actually cost us sleep.
“That first alarm may interrupt vital stages of sleep, and anything that you might be able to get after hitting the snooze alarm is probably going to be low quality and fragmented sleep,” said Robbins, an associate scientist for the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The average snoozer takes an extra 11 minutes after their first alarm, according to a new study coauthored by Robbins that used data from the sleep-tracking app SleepCycle. That adds up to about one night’s worth of sleep per month spent snoozing.
As we sleep, the brain cycles through different stages of neurological activity and the second half of the night is dominated by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when most of our dreaming is thought to take place. It’s an important sleep stage for our cognitive function and memory consolidation, said Robbins, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
