HOUSTON – How many alarms did you set to wake up this morning?
One-third of adults report they are sleeping less than seven hours a night and so sleep-deprived they have to hit snooze many times just to get up on time.
IS HITTING THE SNOOZE BUTTON BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH?
That depends on how many times you do it.
Kelsey-Seybold Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Dr. Puneet Patni said 30 minutes of snoozing aren't that bad, but it's not good either.
He said 30 minutes of sleep isn’t giving your body big benefits because it's interrupted sleep, but hitting snooze for more than 30 minutes could really be hurting your sleep.
“If you're snoozing it so that you're waking up every 10 minutes or so for hours, you're probably not getting great quality sleep,” Patni said.
WHY IS INTERRUPTED SLEEP SO BAD?
“You are disrupting your sleep cycle," Patni said. "You could be in stage three sleep, which is restorative, or REM sleep, which is great for memory consolidation and learning, and you could be interrupting that."
IF YOU DON'T FEEL RESTED, CAN YOU EVER REALLY CATCH UP ON SLEEP?
Patni says you can catch up a little on weekends to where you feel more rested but, if you're chronically exhausted to where it's creating cognitive decline, heart disease and diabetes, you cannot undo that by sleeping in on weekends.
WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE A DOCTOR?
If you're giving yourself enough time to get a full night's rest and still don't feel rested or have problems breathing at night, then it's time to see a doctor.