Intentionality and Snoozing
My junior year in college at Florida I had a roommate who snoozed for an entire hour every day. One day in the fall I couldn’t take it anymore. The way I remember it - I went into his room, pulled the digital clock out of the wall, and dropped it out of the window.
For the entirety of my athletic career I didn’t hit the snooze button one time. It was that hard and fast following of rules that made me successful. Being a bobsled push athlete has pretty linear lines to success.
Get stronger + get faster + recover better = be better.
Getting the right amount of sleep was simply part of that equation. So when I retired and found that sleep wasn’t as important a part of the new equation as it used to be, I found myself exploring the snooze alarm. If it existed and so many others used it - how bad could it be, I thought.
At first it was a fascinating tool. It takes pain away; it allows the return to a fascinating dream; it’s a guilty pleasure that doesn’t harm anyone.
I was sold! And so I became the other half of the world - those that don’t jump right out of bed but instead smack the snooze (or slide nowadays) and pray for another ten minutes of quiet.
And then some strange things started happening. I started not having as much energy in the morning to workout and my mood dragged. My anxiety was up and my mental and physical health was ailing.
I don’t think my new snooze addiction was the main culprit, but considering the research out there about how awful the snooze button is for us, it certainly was a significant contributing factor.
Briefly, here’s what we know about the use of a snooze button:
Negative impact on stress/cortisol levels
Disruption of restorative sleep cycles
Signals poor sleep habits
Potential for degradation both physically and mentally.
Neuroscience expert Matt Janes, author of a report/campaign called “refuse to snooze” says it best. "When your alarm sounds in the morning, you are torn out of restful sleep. This shock quickly engages your sympathetic nervous system, the fight or flight branch of your autonomic nervous system," explains Janes.
And when we hit the snooze and attempt to retreat back into sleep, once that alarm goes off a few minutes later, we engage the fight or flight response once again. As Janes says, hitting the snooze is "multiplying the assault on your brain and body," because "this system is designed to be engaged only for limited periods.”
And ok - you’re like, great Steve. I GET IT! It’s bad for me. But I’m not a morning person/I love the snooze/I’ve been fine doing it this way. And to you - I say, cool. If it works for you, then it works for you. Good on ya.
But since I write and you read to think through concepts and for us all to reflect on what makes us better - I’ll leave us with this:
Intentionality and consciousness are two of the most common traits in the leaders and high achievers I come across. (Forbes hammers it home, in no. 4, here.) Dave Pottruck, Classroom Champions Board Chair and past CEO of Charles Schwab, reminded me of this on a ski trip back in 2019. He didn’t say anything, but at 71 years old when that 6:30am alarm went off, he was out of bed before my eyes were even open. That right there was the reminder I needed.
The way I now think of it is - I go to bed at night and set an alarm to wake myself up. Why would I start my day off not doing what I, myself, said I would do?
By choosing not to use snooze, I set some amazing benefits in motion for myself, all before the sun comes up:
I set an intention, follow-through, and get to bask in it the rest of the day. I did what I said I would - take that world! (yes - it’s like the shelves-energy example - find pride in the little things as often as possible);
I don’t disrupt my nervous system anymore than necessary, thus propelling a healthier day;
I dominate the biggest point of friction in my day, an example of overcoming Limbic Friction (great blog by world-class coach Stu McMillan), thus making other hard things easier.
And so I suggest - don’t hit the snooze - both symbolically, and literally. But, probably don’t go as far as throwing anyone’s clocks out the window - that was a bad idea. :-)
Steve
