Did you smash that snooze button this morning? You don't have to feel guilty anymore: A new study found hitting snooze might not actually be a bad thing.
Researchers at Stockholm University in Sweden couldn't find a lot of actual proof that hitting snooze is bad for us. So they did their own study.
They brought more than 30 regular snoozers to a sleep lab for two nights. One morning, they got to hit snooze three times for a total of 30 minutes. On the other, they didn't hit snooze but still got that extra half-hour of sleep.
So which one was better? They found it didn't make a big difference. Even when people hit snooze three times, they still got an extra 24 minutes of sleep. And it was still GOOD sleep. Waking up for a few minutes didn't matter.
It didn't seem to affect their mood, or how tired they felt. And it didn't affect cortisol levels either. That's a hormone that helps us wake up.
They also had each person take a quick test right after they woke up. And some of them actually did better on it after hitting snooze.
So does this mean we should ALL do it? Probably not. Everyone in the study was already a regular snoozer. They think some of us might just be more predisposed to it. Especially young adults and night owls.
They also polled 1,700 people to find out why we hit snooze. Here are the top reasons:
1. You're too tired to get up. 25% said that's usually the main reason.
2. It just feels good to hit snooze, 17%.
3. You prefer to wake up more gradually, 17%.
4. You worry you won't wake up to your alarm, so you set it earlier than necessary, 10%.
6% blamed it on laziness, 2% said they mainly just do it out of habit, and 1% said it can help them remember their dreams.