If you need to wake up by 6 am to reach the office on time, you might set alarms on your phone for 5:30 am, 5:45 am, 5:55 am, and 6:05 am to avoid hitting the snooze button. Does this sound like you? Experts advise against overloading your clock app with multiple morning alarms, as it can make you feel groggy and exhausted.
A TikTok user, Jordan Bruss, recently shared why setting several alarms is detrimental. “If you’re somebody who sets multiple alarms, I have bad news. Don’t come for me. Just trying to help,” he said in a clip with over 10 million views, according to the New York Post. He emphasized that good sleep hygiene is essential for physical and mental health and warned against causing extra stress by disrupting sleep.
The final stage of the sleep cycle, known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is crucial for memory processing and creativity. Disrupting this stage can negatively affect brain function. Waking to multiple alarms disrupts the REM cycle, causing sleep inertia, increased drowsiness, fatigue, mood swings, and higher cortisol levels, the nurse explained in the video.
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Each alarm triggers a “fight or flight response,” which can be stressful. Over time, chronic morning adrenaline responses can lead to long-term stress, depression, and cardiovascular problems, according to the Joint Chiropractic site. Inconsistent sleep can also contribute to weight gain due to elevated cortisol levels.
Ms. Bruss recommended setting only one alarm. “Don’t keep traumatizing yourself! When that alarm goes off in the morning, get up!” she advised. Dr. Alicia Roth, a clinician at Cleveland Clinic’s Sleep Disorders Center in Ohio, told CNN that starting alarms at 6 am for a 7 am wake-up results in an hour of poor-quality sleep.
While one alarm is ideal, Dr. Roth acknowledged it could be challenging after relying on several. She suggested experimenting with different alarm clocks, such as those using light or requiring you to get out of bed to turn them off. Dr. Cathy Goldstein, a sleep medicine physician at the Michigan Medicine Sleep Disorders Centers, stressed the importance of consistent wake-up and bedtimes.
For those adjusting their biological clocks, Dr. Goldstein recommended gradually shifting bedtime by thirty minutes every few days or an hour weekly. She also advised avoiding bright lighting and limiting screen time to no more than four hours before bed to enhance natural melatonin production.