The Cost of Hitting Snooze

The alarm goes off. It’s cold and dark outside, too early to think about waking up.

You hit snooze, roll over, and get an extra few minutes of sleep.

Rinse and repeat until some inner alarm sends the signal to your nervous system that you’re running late.

Then you jump out of bed. You rush to get ready.

You feel behind your day before you’ve even started.

It’s not a great way to start the day.

The Cost of Hitting Snooze

When you hit snooze, you may feel like you’re engaging in self-case by giving yourself extra sleep. But the quality of sleep you get in those extra minutes is not good. You’d be better off sleeping without the interruption of the alarm.

And the impact of hitting snooze ripples throughout your day.

When you wake up feeling behind your day and you’re rushing, you activate your sympathetic nervous system — also known as fight-or-flight mode.

This state inhibits clear thinking, creativity, and deep connections with others.

Even worse, inconsistent wake up times mess with your circadian rhythms. This creates issues with sleep as well as other health issues down the road. So many of our body’s functions are tied to our circadian rhythms. When we throw it off, our systems get thrown out of whack.

Inconsistency in wake-up time also is a hidden productivity killer. It’s not just the fatigue from inconsistent sleep; it’s also fitting in the time to do what you need to do. How can you allocate your time for your day when you don’t know how much time you’ll have?

Living in that activated and rushed state also creates a chronic stress on the body and nervous system that, over time, becomes a trauma state and can lead to burnout.

My Old Pattern

I learned all of this from personal experience.

Until about 10 years ago, I was a pro-snoozer.

Hitting snooze every morning felt good in the moment but it had ripple effects that impacted my workouts, my work, my emotions, my relationships, and my health.

My energy was low. I got sick often. My menstrual cycle was irregular — my doctor even told me I was in peri-menopause — at age 35.

I was often frustrated, angry, and resentful of everything and everyone — even though it was my fault.

When Everything Changed

Everything changed in August 2013. That’s when I resolved to stop hitting snooze on my life — starting with that morning alarm.

It was an actual resolution — a commitment that I have kept since then.

Snooze is no longer even an option on my alarms.

Over the past year, I’ve even done what I once thought was impossible: I’ve become one of those people who wakes up before 5 am (4:20 am to be exact).

The Key to Sustainable Results

If you want to create sustainable results in anything in life, consistency is key.

That consistency starts with how you wake up and start your day.

Are you ready to stop snoozing on your life?