Do you like to hit the snooze button in the morning, or set multiple alarms and sleep until the last one?
That may seem like an inefficient use of time, but according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Science , that may not be the case. Journal of Sleep Research.
Researchers found that among 31 habitual nappers, napping for 30 minutes did not affect their performance on cognitive tests taken immediately after waking up compared to cognitive tests taken immediately after waking up on days when they did not nap. performance and even actually improved performance on cognitive tests.
While a nap results in about six minutes of lost sleep, it prevents waking from slow-wave sleep, a deep state that is difficult to escape quickly. There were no significant effects on stress hormone levels, morning sleepiness, mood, or nighttime sleep patterns, the researchers wrote.
“The findings suggest that if you enjoy your morning nap, there’s no reason to stop taking it, at least not to a 30-minute nap,” said study lead author Tina Sundelin, an assistant professor of psychology at Stockholm University in Sweden. time.” In a press release about the study. “In fact, it may even help people who are sleepy in the morning feel a little more awake when they wake up.”
A snoozer has good company
If you’re one of those people who repeatedly hits the snooze button, there’s no shame in that – you’re in good company. When researchers asked about 1,700 adults about their sleeping and waking habits, nearly 70 percent said they used the snooze feature or set multiple alarms at least sometimes. Those who did manage to do this averaged an extra 22 minutes of sleep each morning, though the extra sleep ranged from a paltry 1 minute to a whopping 180 minutes.
Research shows that compared to people who don’t nap, people who nap have the following characteristics:
- tend to be younger than those who do not nap
- Night owls are more likely to
- Typically sleep less than those who do not nap
What if you wake up before your alarm goes off?
For those of you wondering whether you should go back to bed or start your day earlier, the answer is gray.
Experts say the best answer depends on several factors wealth, But usually tend to go back to bed. This is because sleep is restorative and affects multiple body systems.
The first question to ask yourself is: Are you getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep? That’s according to Joachim Behar, a sleep researcher and head of the Medical Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.
Most experts recommend 7-9 hours of sleep for adults. If you haven’t saved enough time in your sleep bank for the night, Behar recommends going back to sleep—with one exception. If your alarm is set to wake you in 90 minutes or less, stay up late, he advises. A complete sleep cycle takes approximately 90 minutes, and interrupting a sleep cycle may cause sleep inertia.
Dr. Raj Dasgupta, chief medical advisor at Sleepopolis, previously said this was “the groggy and difficulty concentrating that many people feel when they wake up.” wealth.
According to Dasgupta, waking up early is not always a bad thing. If you find yourself staring at the ceiling 30 minutes or less before your alarm goes off, “that’s a good sign that your sleep schedule is consistent with your circadian rhythm,” he says.
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