Bec Oakes
We're all guilty of hitting the snooze button a few too many times in the morning and getting back under the covers for an extra 10 minute kip.
But what if this seemingly harmless activity was one of the worst possible ways to start your day.
Well, Mel Robbins - an author best known for her her TEDx talk 'How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over' - has taken a deep-dive into the science behind snoozing in the morning, and how it can disorient your entire morning.
Take a listen to what she has to say:
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The lawyer-turned-podcaster explained in an episode of her series, The Mel Robbins Podcast, how hitting the snooze button results in something called sleep inertia.
The CDC explain that sleep inertia is a temporary disorientation and decline in performance and/or mood after awakening from sleep.
Robbins explains that when you hit the snooze button, 'you're awake, and as the alarm turns off, your brain then drifts back into sleep.'
She adds: "And here's the thing researchers have figured out, when you drift back to sleep after you've woken up, your brain starts a sleep cycle."
To put that into context, a normal sleep cycle in an adult takes between 90 and 110 minutes to complete, according to the National Institutes of Health.
"So when that alarm goes off again in nine minutes, and you're like 'oh my god!', have you ever noticed you're like, in deep sleep when you drift back to sleep?" Robbins ponders.
This is because you're technically nine minutes into a sleep cycle, which, as we now know, averages around 90 minutes.
"That groggy, exhausted feeling that you have... that's not a function of how well you slept," Robbins says.
"That's you and me being an idiot for hitting the snooze button and putting our brain in a state of sleep inertia. And it takes your brain around four hours to get through that groggy-ass feeling."
People are stunned to hear the science behind the snooze button, with one commenting on TikTok: "Damn I guess I gotta change my snooze to 75 mins then."
And another said: "My relationship with the snooze button is OVER."
While someone pointed out: "Ohhh I didn’t know this! I always wondered why I was so groggy in the mornings even after getting a full nights rest!!"
But, while we should all probably end our toxic relationships with the snooze button, I think I'm already in too deep...