# What's the pint of snooze alarms? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123 "2020-01-28T20:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/21 "2020-01-28T22:33:12Z")
I have a clock with a big, lit face that imitates the sunrise. I have it set so that it starts getting a dim red about five, becomes slowly brighter and whiter until at 5:30 it’s fully lit and chirping like a flock of birds. The flock will chirp until six, when it shuts down. But that’s background, just to fight the winter darkness. I set my phone and snooze at least three times. Those snoozes are just too sweet to deprive myself of. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/22 "2020-01-28T22:33:56Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I think snooze alarms are stupid. If you need to wake up at 9, then just wake up. Why set it for 8 am and then grab your phone every few minutes just to hear the same damn alarm again? Just wake up at 9 and deal with it. Curse yourself for staying up too late but be an adult, get out of bed and start your day Lol, I have the same question, but the answer is simple: It’s us. Not them. Us. We’re the Special Ones granted the True Gift of Instant Awakedness. It comes from superior wiring, I’m positive. 😉 It, er, wasn’t until I was waking up in other peoples beds that I noticed this, that _they_ noticed this. “I don’t know how to handle a guy who gets on his feet within seconds of opening his eyes”… but, then, I don’t know how to handle a person who sleeps past 9 on Saturday, so whatcha gonna do? 🙂 (I don’t take long to fall asleep either - it’s on, then off, then on for me like a switch. Hell, I _itch_ to get out of bed if I don’t soon enough.) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/23 "2020-01-28T22:39:51Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “I don’t know how to handle a guy who gets on his feet within seconds of opening his eyes”… “What? I’ve been watching you sleep for over an hour!” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/24 "2020-01-28T22:43:02Z")
Well, my alarm goes off at 6:30. I get up, take my morning pills, use the toilet, and stretch our my calves. Then I go back to bed and enjoy a few more minutes of restful quiet before my second alarm goes off telling me it’s time to get dressed and all that, and catch the train. I started doing this because taking my morning pills used to “wake up” my guts, and I missed the train a couple of times due to my urgent need to empty my bowels. So I gave myself enough time after taking my pills to do that, if I had to. My diurnal cycle has since changed, and now I rarely need to empty my bowels until mid-morning. But I’ve gotten into the habit of the dual alarm thing. (spoilered for possible TMI) ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/25 "2020-01-28T22:49:50Z")
I didn’t use the snooze feature for years and years. Then, I started to fall back asleep or even sleep through my alarm, mainly because I wasn’t sleeping well due to stress. That’s when I discovered the wonderful snooze feature. It helps me to actually be able to fall back to sleep for a few minutes. When the alarm goes off again, my body doesn’t protest the getting up so much. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/26 "2020-01-28T23:04:33Z")
Back before I got my CPAP, I got very poor quality sleep. My best REM sleep usually didn’t happen for hours, and therefore I was usually deep, deep down when my alarm went off. The first alarm would barely even rouse me (often I didn’t even remember hitting snooze for the first time), the second would mostly wake me up, and by the third I was actually ready to get out of bed. Sleep apnea’s a bitch. Now that I sleep well, I’m usually awake before the alarm and rarely if ever need a snooze. But I get it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/27 "2020-01-28T23:14:46Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I haven’t used an alarm in 25 years, unless I have an early appointment, meeting, or travel plans that I absolutely cannot be late for. I just wake up when it’s time to wake up. > > Although I have no criticism of people who use snooze alarms, I never really understood it either. If you have to be out of bed at 7:00, it seems that your quality of sleep would be better to sleep until 7:00 instead of waking up at 6:40, 6:45, 6:50, 6:55, \*then \*getting out of bed at 7:00. But different things work for different people. As with most things, everybody’s different. I do not use a snooze on my alarm (95% of the time I don’t need it, but I do set it just in case), but I do wake up naturally in bits and pieces. I actually get really annoyed if I sleep straight through; I’m used to waking up a couple hours after going to sleep, then maybe a couple hours after that, then about an hour before I need to get up, then a half hour, then maybe ten minutes. That’s pretty much how I’ve always been. Only exception is when I’m ill and falling down tired. Then I’ll sleep the eight hours straight through. Otherwise, I like waking up several times during the night, and more and more often before I need to actually wake up. So, no snooze for me, but I totally get it and basically do the same thing myself with my sleep habits. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/28 "2020-01-28T23:23:50Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > …get out of bed and start your day You lay down on a bed to sleep? I sleep standing in the shower, saves the 12 second walk from the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/29 "2020-01-28T23:28:06Z")
Ugh, I hate hate HATE snooze alarms. I mean, I don’t care whether people use them in the privacy of their own home, as long as it is not an apartment building with thin walls, but if you are sharing a dorm or a hotel room with another person … Just. Do. Not. Because if that other person is me, I will be _wide_ awake and resentful while you are having your snooze. (I’m also one of those people who hardly ever sets the alarm at home. On the rare occasions when I do set an alarm because I have to get up really early or something, I generally do not get much sleep at all; I will wake up at four o’clock in the morning and be unable to get back to sleep, because apparently my whole body finds being woken by an alarm really stressful and will do almost anything to avoid it.) ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/30 "2020-01-28T23:42:57Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Ugh, I hate hate HATE snooze alarms. I understand that as I often share a hotel room with two others who love to snooze and use LOUD alarms. But worse was an ex-boyfriend who had rigged his extremely bright bedside light and radio alarm to turn on at 4 AM and would then fall back asleep with them still going. Even on weekends. Grrrrr. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/31 "2020-01-29T00:05:47Z")
I like having the option of getting up a little earlier than I normally have to. For example, if I can hear the sound of a snow shovel or car windows being scraped from outside, I will get up on one of the earlier alarms. Same if have to pack some extra lunch supplies or want to spend a little more time reading about some news story that was breaking last night before bed. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/32 "2020-01-29T00:06:24Z")
I’m another NO on snooze alarms. I always say, being woken up is bad enough, why would I want it to happen multiple times in one morning? (Although thanks to my furry four-legged alarm clock, that’s what sometimes ends up happening anyway. :mad:) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/33 "2020-01-29T00:14:21Z")
I usually only use the snooze function in the winter months - I don’t exactly bounce out of bed when it is still pitch dark outside, so I like to be eased into the day. It’ll not even be a couple of months before I’m woken up by the birds singing outside my bedroom window. Sing, [bonnie blackbird](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=997RTKzc39c), for a new day has dawned! ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/34 "2020-01-29T00:19:48Z")
I am officially pro-snooze-alarm. The first time it goes off, you go from dead asleep to 80% asleep. Next time 80% to 60%. Continue till you’re more or less compos-mentis. Each successive ringing has \*\*some \*\*effect, just not an “all the way from sleep to wake” effect. Attempting to be vertical while not actually really awake is not indicated in my case. Over the last five years, however, my body seems to have naturally re-wired itself to believe that around 5am is a good time for waking up, so it’s not really a live issue any more. “Waking up” is, however, a process that takes around an hour or so > [@JohnT](#): > > (I don’t take long to fall asleep either - it’s on, then off, then on for me like a switch. Hell, I _itch_ to get out of bed if I don’t soon enough.) I’m afraid I’m going to have to hunt you down and murder you now. No hard feelings ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/35 "2020-01-29T00:34:08Z")
Yeah. Some of us don’t actually make it all the way to awake the first time. If I were to just turn the alarm off the first time it went off I’d always be late. Sometimes it takes 3 cycles before enough neurons are firing for me to actually open my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/36 "2020-01-29T00:36:20Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > \ Different people do things differently then you, **dalej42**. An adult would know that. > > Why I specifically do it is because I like to wake up gradually. I don’t use my phone as an alarm, but rather a good old fashioned clock radio and it’s very pleasant to me. 🙂 You didn’t close your snark tag. Maybe a mod can fix? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/37 "2020-01-29T00:38:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You didn’t close your snark tag. Maybe a mod can fix? Actually in this case the open tag flows through, resulting in the entire thread after being snark. (As both our posts demonstrate.) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/38 "2020-01-29T00:45:03Z")
Does anyone else turn on an audiobook when you hit the first snooze? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/39 "2020-01-29T00:58:48Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > \ ETA: And it’s weird to me that you people are all posting even time estimates for snoozes; mine is nine minutes and I gather that that’s pretty standard. Didn’t Cecil have a column long ago about why snooze alarms are generally nine minutes duration? I think it was something to do with standard gear ratios in the clocks at the time. Nowadays, of course, that’s pretty much moot. Edit: ah yes, here it is: [Why does the alarm clock snooze button give you nine extra minutes, not ten? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1361/why-does-the-alarm-clock-snooze-button-give-you-nine-extra-minutes-not-ten/) Anyway, I see a snooze alarm as an example of redundant design to enhance system reliability. We know the clock is going to fail to wake us up some mornings. Why let it off the hook from trying again and again until it succeeds? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123/40 "2020-01-29T01:16:52Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I am officially pro-snooze-alarm. The first time it goes off, you go from dead asleep to 80% asleep. Next time 80% to 60%. Continue till you’re more or less compos-mentis. Each successive ringing has \*\*some \*\*effect, just not an “all the way from sleep to wake” effect. Attempting to be vertical while not actually really awake is not indicated in my case. > > Over the last five years, however, my body seems to have naturally re-wired itself to believe that around 5am is a good time for waking up, so it’s not really a live issue any more. “Waking up” is, however, a process that takes around an hour or so > > I’m afraid I’m going to have to hunt you down and murder you now. No hard feelings None taken. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-pint-of-snooze-alarms/847123.md?page=3)