Latest news with #snooze
CNET
19-06-2025
- CNET
iOS 26 Finally Lets Us Get Rid of the Abomination That Is the 9-Minute Snooze
In 2007, Apple launched the iPhone, a monumental device that became synonymous with the advancement of mobile technology. At that time, it also included a dreadful alarm feature: the nine-minute snooze. The latest iPhones are bezel-free, can shoot 4K videos in slow-motion and we can unlock these devices by looking at them, just to name a few of the many advancements that have been made over the past 18 years. These iPhones are a far cry from the original model Apple launched in 2007, and yet the alarm's nine-minute snooze has persisted -- until iOS 26. The tech giant announced the next iPhone update at its Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, and the software upgrade will bring a lot of new features to your iPhone when Apple releases it later this year, like new tools in Messages and a new Games app. But the company could also loosen its grip on your alarm's snooze duration in your Clock app in the software. In the iOS 26 developer beta, you can set your default snooze duration to anywhere between one and 15 minutes. After messing around in the developer beta, this is one of my favorite tweaks. I should note that the developer beta of iOS 26 is an early version of the software that is specifically aimed at software developers. This means that part of it could change over the coming months, including this new snooze feature. But first, why does snooze last nine minutes? According to CNET's sister site Mashable, the snooze button was introduced to alarm clocks in the mid-1950s, and the snooze duration was -- that's right -- nine minutes. It was supposedly easier on the hardware to set the snooze duration to a single digit as opposed to a double digit. Thus, the wretched nine-minute snooze was born. The nine-minute snooze also has some scientific backing. Science says nine minutes might be an ideal snooze time before we fall back into a deep slumber. This is an early version of iOS 26 aimed at developers. The Snooze Duration menu could look different in the final version of iOS 26. Apple/Screenshot by CNET "In terms of sleep, nine minutes is just enough time for a brief rest," Holly Schiff, a licensed clinical psychologist, told Reader's Digest. "Once you get past the 10-minute mark, your body can start to fall back into a deep sleep, which will make waking up again difficult and more unpleasant." However, it's 2025: My iPhone can stream videos from Netflix, play games from Xbox Game Pass and Android devices can set snooze for 10 minutes, so we know we can leave the nine-minutes in the past. As for health science, it would probably say I should do a lot of things, like eat more vegetables and less cheese. My doctor hasn't mentioned my cheese intake at my annual checkup, so will one more minute of snooze really be that detrimental? I don't think so. But at the end of the day, my true reason for loving this change is not nearly as nuanced: This tweak makes my brain happy because in my mind, nine is an uncomfortable number for me. For starters, nine's an odd number, and everyone knows that even numbers are superior to odd numbers. The only exception to this rule is any odd increment of five, which are honorary even numbers, as everyone also knows. Is nine divisible by five? No. Strike one. Next, despite nine being an odd number, it isn't even a prime number. In fact, it's the only single-digit odd number that isn't also a prime number, so it's even weirder. That's strike two. And why would you pick nine when 10 is right there? There's a reason people say, "On a scale from 1 to 10," and not, "On a scale from 1 to 9." See how weird that sounds? So now whenever I make an alarm in the iOS 26 developer beta, I'm changing my alarm's snooze duration to 10 minutes. It's an even number, and in my head it's a nice, smooth number that makes my brain happy. And isn't that really what snoozing is all about? Think of it like this: If you had to manually set a snooze timer, how long would you set it for? I'd bet almost everyone would pick some increment of five. Absolutely no one would pick nine, except maybe some clock enthusiasts and whatever mad scientist at Apple made it the default for all these years. Is 10 minutes a scientifically better snooze time than nine minutes? Probably not. Will it leave me in the same trap of just barely falling back asleep only to be abruptly woken up once more? Most likely. Am I relieved at the thought of snoozing for a number of minutes that is comfier for my brain? Absolutely. It's also nice to have the option to set it for a shorter time, like five minutes, so if you want a couple more minutes to wake up, you don't risk actually falling asleep again. Since this is a developer beta, I recommend downloading it only on something other than your primary device. Because this isn't the final version of iOS 26, the update might be buggy and battery life may be short, so it's best to keep those troubles on a secondary device. Note that the beta is not the final version of iOS 26, so there could be more features to land on your iPhone when iOS 26 is released. Apple wrote on its site that iOS 26 will be released to the general public this fall, but there's no word on an exact date. Until then, iOS 18 users are stuck with the horrid nine-minute snooze. For more on Apple, here's what you need to know about iOS 26 and everything the company announced at WWDC 2025.
The Independent
16-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Doctor explains why you feel worse when you hit snooze and go back to sleep for an hour
If you've woken up way too early for no good reason, going back to bed for that extra hour of sleep may not be as beneficial as you'd hoped. Instead, you're better off just staying awake, because slipping back into sleep will leave you feeling groggy and agitated since you've disturbed your 90-minute sleep cycle. 'If you were to sleep till you woke up naturally, often, you'd be fine because you'd be in the natural cycle. But then, when you fall asleep and then your alarm wakes you up … you have a good chance of ending up awakening in a deeper sleep phase when you weren't meant to wake up,' Dr. Greg Mahr, a psychiatrist at Henry Ford Health, told The Independent. 'You feel really groggy because you haven't gone through the natural rhythm.' Changes in the brain are 'fairly clear,' he said, looking at recordings of brain activity. When you interrupt those deeper stages of sleep, it can take a while to recover, whereas, being woken up in other lighter stages of sleep does not yield the same results. This is true even if you technically get enough sleep. 'It's typically not listening to our body cycles and trying to override them because of our schedules and alarm clocks,' Mahr noted. Alarm clocks can play a major role in sleep health. Recent research has found that more than 50 percent of 3 million sleep sessions studied ended in a 'snooze.' People spent an average of 11 minutes between snooze alarms before waking and heavy snoozers averaged 20 minutes a day, according to Dr. Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. 'Unfortunately, the snooze alarm disrupts some of the most important stages of sleep. The hours just before waking are rich in rapid eye movement sleep. Hitting the snooze alarm will interrupt these critical stages of sleep and typically only offer you light sleep in between snooze alarms,' she explained. How many alarms you set can also be a red flag, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine Dr. Rachel Salas. 'If you're a 10-alarm person, that is a huge red flag. If you have to hit the snooze button and you're not waking up, that's a red flag that something may be going on while you're sleeping that you're not aware of,' she explained. 'You might have an undiagnosed, untreated sleep disorder.' People might not be able to control their variable work schedules or environmental conditions. But, can they hack the system? Can you sneak a little extra sleep in without feeling the effects? Salas says you can. 'Taking a nap before 3 p.m. for less than an hour – ideally, 20 or 30 minutes – that's one way to pay back and not affect the other process that's important for sleep that runs with the circadian rhythm. It's called the homeostatic drive,' she said. Otherwise, you can get yourself in a vicious cycle of bad sleep. But there's one way to ensure you're waking up as fresh as can be. 'The best approach for optimizing your sleep and next day performance is to set your alarm for the latest possible time, then commit to getting out of bed when your first alarm goes off,' Robbins said.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Here's why you feel awful after going back to bed for that extra hour of sleep
If you've woken up way too early for no good reason, going back to bed for that extra hour of sleep may not be as beneficial as you'd hoped. Instead, you're better off just staying awake, because slipping back into sleep will leave you feeling groggy and agitated since you've disturbed your 90-minute sleep cycle. 'If you were to sleep till you woke up naturally, often, you'd be fine because you'd be in the natural cycle. But then, when you fall asleep and then your alarm wakes you up … you have a good chance of ending up awakening in a deeper sleep phase when you weren't meant to wake up,' Dr. Greg Mahr, a psychiatrist at Henry Ford Health, told The Independent. 'You feel really groggy because you haven't gone through the natural rhythm.' Changes in the brain are 'fairly clear,' he said, looking at recordings of brain activity. When you interrupt those deeper stages of sleep, it can take a while to recover, whereas, being woken up in other lighter stages of sleep does not yield the same results. This is true even if you technically get enough sleep. 'It's typically not listening to our body cycles and trying to override them because of our schedules and alarm clocks,' Mahr noted. Alarm clocks can play a major role in sleep health. Recent research has found that more than 50 percent of 3 million sleep sessions studied ended in a 'snooze.' People spent an average of 11 minutes between snooze alarms before waking and heavy snoozers averaged 20 minutes a day, according to Dr. Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. 'Unfortunately, the snooze alarm disrupts some of the most important stages of sleep. The hours just before waking are rich in rapid eye movement sleep. Hitting the snooze alarm will interrupt these critical stages of sleep and typically only offer you light sleep in between snooze alarms,' she explained. How many alarms you set can also be a red flag, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine Dr. Rachel Salas. 'If you're a 10-alarm person, that is a huge red flag. If you have to hit the snooze button and you're not waking up, that's a red flag that something may be going on while you're sleeping that you're not aware of,' she explained. 'You might have an undiagnosed, untreated sleep disorder.' People might not be able to control their variable work schedules or environmental conditions. But, can they hack the system? Can you sneak a little extra sleep in without feeling the effects? Salas says you can. 'Taking a nap before 3 p.m. for less than an hour – ideally, 20 or 30 minutes – that's one way to pay back and not affect the other process that's important for sleep that runs with the circadian rhythm. It's called the homeostatic drive,' she said. Otherwise, you can get yourself in a vicious cycle of bad sleep. But there's one way to ensure you're waking up as fresh as can be. 'The best approach for optimizing your sleep and next day performance is to set your alarm for the latest possible time, then commit to getting out of bed when your first alarm goes off,' Robbins said.
The Independent
15-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Here's why you feel awful after going back to bed for that extra hour of sleep
If you've woken up way too early for no good reason, going back to bed for that extra hour of sleep may not be as beneficial as you'd hoped. Instead, you're better off just staying awake, because slipping back into sleep will leave you feeling groggy and agitated since you've disturbed your 90-minute sleep cycle. 'If you were to sleep till you woke up naturally, often, you'd be fine because you'd be in the natural cycle. But then, when you fall asleep and then your alarm wakes you up … you have a good chance of ending up awakening in a deeper sleep phase when you weren't meant to wake up,' Dr. Greg Mahr, a psychiatrist at Henry Ford Health, told The Independent. 'You feel really groggy because you haven't gone through the natural rhythm.' Changes in the brain are 'fairly clear,' he said, looking at recordings of brain activity. When you interrupt those deeper stages of sleep, it can take a while to recover, whereas, being woken up in other lighter stages of sleep does not yield the same results. This is true even if you technically get enough sleep. 'It's typically not listening to our body cycles and trying to override them because of our schedules and alarm clocks,' Mahr noted. Alarm clocks can play a major role in sleep health. Recent research has found that more than 50 percent of 3 million sleep sessions studied ended in a 'snooze.' People spent an average of 11 minutes between snooze alarms before waking and heavy snoozers averaged 20 minutes a day, according to Dr. Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. 'Unfortunately, the snooze alarm disrupts some of the most important stages of sleep. The hours just before waking are rich in rapid eye movement sleep. Hitting the snooze alarm will interrupt these critical stages of sleep and typically only offer you light sleep in between snooze alarms,' she explained. How many alarms you set can also be a red flag, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine Dr. Rachel Salas. 'If you're a 10-alarm person, that is a huge red flag. If you have to hit the snooze button and you're not waking up, that's a red flag that something may be going on while you're sleeping that you're not aware of,' she explained. 'You might have an undiagnosed, untreated sleep disorder.' People might not be able to control their variable work schedules or environmental conditions. But, can they hack the system? Can you sneak a little extra sleep in without feeling the effects? Salas says you can. 'Taking a nap before 3 p.m. for less than an hour – ideally, 20 or 30 minutes – that's one way to pay back and not affect the other process that's important for sleep that runs with the circadian rhythm. It's called the homeostatic drive,' she said. Otherwise, you can get yourself in a vicious cycle of bad sleep. But there's one way to ensure you're waking up as fresh as can be. 'The best approach for optimizing your sleep and next day performance is to set your alarm for the latest possible time, then commit to getting out of bed when your first alarm goes off,' Robbins said.
Gizmodo
12-06-2025
- Gizmodo
After 18 Years, Apple Is Killing Its 9-Minute Snooze—That Can Only Mean One Thing
For years, it's always been nine more measly minutes. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, you've probably never owned an iPhone, or you're one of those freaks who wakes up without a device screaming in your face to do so. If you are in one of those camps, let me explain: for 18 years, Apple has maintained a vice grip on its alarm snooze feature, which grants nine more minutes to your alarm. No more, no less. Just nine minutes. And there's no adjusting that in settings. No adjusting that until now, that is. As noted by MacRumors, iOS 26, which was just introduced at Apple's WWDC 2025, finally lets you manually set your snooze time, which means one thing: it's time to sleep the f**k in, at least for as much as 15 whole minutes. In normal, non-sleep-related time, six minutes more isn't a lot, but when it comes to waking up, if you're anything like me, six minutes is basically a lifetime. Imagine all the horrible stress dreams about your teeth falling out you could have had in that time. Or heck, you might even luck out and get the one where you're driving a car and the brakes go out. The possibilities are really endless, or at least endless within a 15-minute span. Not only that, but you can even—if you're a total masochist—set your snooze time to be shorter. As noted by MacRumors, the developer beta allows you to choose anywhere between one and 15 minutes. The world is now your sleepy little oyster, and you are able to shuck it into the future up to 15 minutes at a time. On one hand, it's kind of wild that it's taken this long to give people the option to extend or retract their snooze times, but also very Apple-like. For many years, Apple was known for its definitive design that locked people in, though that's changed as the years have gone by. In today's iOS, you can change app icons, customize wallpapers, and—soon in iOS 26—choose backgrounds for your threads in Messages, and much more. Those are all things that iOS users of yore only dreamed about, and now they're a reality. It's a shift for Apple, but in this case, probably one that most people will welcome. As for the 9-minute default, well, it'll still have its place as the iOS default and also its own place in history. The 9-minute snooze, if you'll allow me a quick reverie, is a vestige of alarm clock history, originating from GE's Model 7H241 from 1956, which was the first alarm clock with a snooze feature. Why nine minutes exactly? Well, back in the day, clocks had gears, and that meant you had to work around the physical constraints of said gears. GE wasn't able to set 10 minutes exactly due to those constraints—it had to choose nine minutes and change or 10 minutes and change, and ultimately it went with nine. Clearly that decision lasted a lot longer than nine minutes in the long run. If you're ready to break out of the 9-minute prison Apple has kept you in, you'll have to wait a little bit, though. Currently, iOS 16 is only available via a developer beta, and the first public beta launches next month. The non-beta software should launch in the fall in full, along with Apple's newest-generation iPhones, and once that happens, we can all rest easy—at least for 15 more minutes.
