It’s no big deal to grab five minutes of respite when you wake up, it would even be good to be in shape during the day.
On this weekend of time change which is rather nice for sleepers, there is also good news for fans of “delaying” waking up by a few minutes. Explanations from Géraldine Zamansky, journalist at the Health Magazine on France 5.
franceinfo: Contrary to popular belief, it could be beneficial to grant yourself this “bonus” sleep time when you wake up?
Geraldine Zamansky : Absolutely, Swedish researchers have carried out two very guilt-relieving studies for all those who have difficulty jumping out of bed at the first ring of the alarm clock. First, in reality, women are the majority. Their first survey of 1,732 adults shows that nearly 7 out of 10 sleepers practice this morning “grabbing minutes”. Even being able to go back to sleep between two rings.
And then this slow start does not “rub off” on the rest of the day?
No way ! On the contrary, the brains of these wake-up procrastinators work better when they have little by little given themselves a 30-minute bonus. This is the result of astonishing research carried out at Stockholm University by Tina Sundelin. She explained to me how 31 wake-shift enthusiasts agreed to sleep in her laboratory, and take tests as soon as they got up. Either after having had the right to postpone the alarm. Or after jumping out of bed, from the one and only alarm ring. A little addition, words to remember, an evaluation of personal memory: the results of these small tests are clear: better scores are observed after waking up in several stages.
How does Tina Sundelin explain these performances?
She has good hypotheses, thanks to the commitment of these volunteers who also agreed to have lots of sensors on their heads and bodies during the night, to monitor their different sleep cycles. As a result, when they sleep, without interruption, the last 30 minutes before waking up, these volunteers are often in a deep phase. Which is rare in the morning.
However, it is known that a sudden interruption of this phase leaves the brain foggy. So being able to get some sleep again would ease this breakup. And then, in very simplified terms, the secretion of “wake-up hormones” would still begin. It was a saliva test that made it possible to measure it. All of this can contribute to getting out of the morning fog more quickly. Conclusion, no reason to deprive yourself of waking up in stages, if it seems beneficial. Of course, avoiding being late!