What are the most unproductive 9 minutes of your day?
It’s no secret. It’s the snooze button. Did you see that coming? Probably.
But we’re not done yet. I will explain why the snooze button is so unproductive and how to actually snooze productively. Yes, it’s possible to hit the snooze button and not be a complete failure, regardless of what the internet tells you.
In fact, you can actually do some really productive things with the snooze button.
If more than 1/3 of American adults are hitting the snooze (I suspect it’s actually more than that), then something needs to change.
At least the way we view the snooze button.
Why Typical Snoozing is Unproductive
We’ve talked about sleep cycles before, but to sum it, your body sleeps in 90-minute intervals. So it’s best to plan for sleep in multiples of 90 minutes (6 hours, 7.5. hours, 9 hours, etc.). By doing this, you’re attempting to wake up after your body has completed a certain amount of sleep cycles.
To make this easier, try the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock.
Hitting the snooze keeps you in a half awake/half asleep stage that will make you feel groggy.
If you don’t believe me, try waking up for one week while hitting the snooze each day, and then waking up for one week without hitting the snooze at all. You will feel much more alert, quicker, by not hitting the snooze.
But it gets worse. When you sleep, your brain develops ideas, thoughts, and new memories that can be very helpful to you. You can actually come up with all kinds of ideas while you’re sleeping, but snoozing can hinder those ideas. It’s easy to forget things that happened when you were sleeping, especially if you’re snoozing.
Think about your dreams. Once you pop out of bed, starting moving around, and stop thinking about your dreams, you’ll usually forget them pretty quickly. The same thing happens with hitting the snooze. You’ll forget everything that happened while you were sleeping. There could be some great ideas that are thrown out the window, because of the snooze button.
Basically what I’m saying is that hitting the snooze is unhelpful. Unless you use it wisely.
How to Snooze Wisely
Ideally, you should wake up naturally, without an alarm clock. You can do this by going to bed earlier and trying to wake up before your alarm goes off, but you’ll still want to set an alarm to be safe, if you have somewhere to be…like work, for example.
An alarm clock isn’t a bad thing, but it can interrupt your sleep cycles. So if you do manage to wake up a few minutes before your alarm goes off, it’s best to go ahead and get out of bed. You’ll thank yourself later.
You don’t have to avoid the snooze button all together to do well. Even former Navy SEAL, Stew Smith, hits the snooze button, but there are some great things to do once you do hit snooze. You don’t have to fall back into a crappy stage of half sleeping. It’s possible to use that time productively.
You can hit snooze and do something productive with those nine minutes. Here are some examples:
- Breathe. Learn a few breathing exercises and try out some different types. It’s a nice way to start the day.
- Journal sleep thoughts. Keep a journal by your bed to record your first thoughts upon waking.
- Be grateful. Hit the snooze once and just lie in bed. Think about everything you’re grateful for.
- Meditate. It may be hard to stay awake, but you’ll get used to it and be able to do it.
- Pray. Whatever you believe in, pray and talk to God for those nine minutes.
It’s OK if you accidentally fall back asleep. That’s why you have the snooze to wake you up again, but these things can start your day off productively, and make you feel much better than just getting a few minutes of groggy sleep.
Regardless of how you use the time, there’s no need to hit the snooze more than once.