Six in ten of us* hit the snooze button to spend extra half-hour in bed

PRESSING the snooze button when the morning alarm rings is a temptation that many of us find difficult to resist.

But a comprehensive study has concluded that if you snooze you really do lose.

Researchers found that those who set a sequence of alarms to wake them are more likely to have a higher heart rate compared with those who rise to only one.

A consistently high resting heart rate has been linked to a number of health problems, including diabetes and heart disease.

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame in the United States also discovered that snoozers are more likely to spend the last hour before waking in a light sleep, compared to the deeper slumber enjoyed by non-snoozers.

Of 450 participants involved, 57 per cent admitted sneaking in extra time in bed, with women 12 per cent more likely to do so than men.

In a separate study, researchers found seven in ten cases of heart disease and stroke could be prevented with a good night’s sleep.

The French National Institute of Health and Medical Research tracked 7,000 healthy adults aged 50 to 75 for a decade and found only one in ten regularly slept well.

Those who did had a 75 per cent lower incidence of heart disease or stroke than the poorest sleepers.

In the US study, feeling unable to wake up from just one alarm was the most commonly given reason for snoozing in the morning, closely followed by those who said they feel too comfortable to get up.

And the average time spent in bed after the first alarm going off was almost half an hour for snoozers, compared with nine minutes for those who set only one alarm.

Younger people are more likely to hit the snooze button, while the fact that snoozers tend to take fewer daily steps may give credence to the association with laziness. Phones are used as alarms four times more often than clocks. Participants were more likely to use their phone’s ‘snooze function’ – which emits a follow-up alarm after a few minutes – than setting a dedicated alarm after waking up.

Sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley said: ‘Your body hates to be woken up by an alarm because your heart rate shoots up and your stress hormones rocket. It might not kill you, but you’re certainly not setting yourself up right for the day.’ He added that consolidated, uninterrupted sleep was far more beneficial than repeated interruptions by several alarms.

He recommends an old-fashioned alarm clock without a snooze function and positioning it far from the bed to force yourself to get up.