Sleep Cycle Co-Authors New Study Uncovering Global Trends in Snooze Alarm Use

Sleep Cycle, the leading sleep technology company, today announced the publication of a new study aimed at unraveling the practice of the snooze alarm. The study, led by Dr. Rebecca Robbins, PhD, Sleep Scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and co-authored by Sleep Cycle shows the practice is common, with more than 50 percent of sleep sessions logged ending in a snooze alarm. While a few studies have begun to explore the effects of snoozing, this common practice has remained largely under-researched until now.

Drawing on Sleep Cycle data from over 3 million nights and a global sample of 21,000 anonymous users, the research explores who uses a snooze alarm and how often. It also provides a quantitative look at snooze alarm usage, uncovering intriguing trends and insights into this widespread habit.

Commenting on the findings Dr. Robbins stated:
“Many of us reach for the snooze alarm in the morning with hopes of ‘getting a bit more sleep,’ but little research has been done to systematically understand snooze alarm use. Our study reveals that those using the snooze alarm pressed on average between two and three times, and the average duration of snoozing was nearly 11 minutes. Using the snooze alarm can interrupt some of the most important stages of sleep. Setting a wake time that you can meet as many days of the week as possible, then committing to getting out of bed after that first alarm, will offer benefits to your mood, performance, health, and well-being the following day.”

Global Trends in Snooze Behavior
The study uncovered several insights into the global usage of snooze alarms. Some of the key findings include:

• Swedes lead the world in snoozing, averaging 2.7 snoozes per morning, closely followed by the US and Germany with 2.5 snoozes per morning.
• Japanese users press the snooze button the least (2.2 times each morning), with Australia following closely.
• Women are slightly more likely to snooze than men (2.5 times each morning vs. 2.3), indicating potential gender differences in morning routines, albeit small.
• Longer sleep sessions—those exceeding nine hours—are more likely to end with a snooze, whereas shorter sleep sessions show less frequent snooze alarm use.
• Individuals who go to bed earlier are less likely to snooze, while late bedtimes correlate with more frequent use of the snooze button.
• The month with the most snooze behavior was December while September had the lowest number of alarms.
• Monday through Friday – the traditional workweek – are the days when individuals most commonly hit the snooze alarm.

Dr. Mike Gradisar, Head of Sleep Science at Sleep Cycle, commented on the broader implications: “Despite snoozing being a common topic on the internet, we were surprised to learn there have only been a couple of scientific investigations so far. This study begins to paint a picture of who uses it and how, and at Sleep Cycle we will continue to monitor these habits to see how they evolve over time.”

Although this study sheds light on how widespread and patterned snoozing is, it does not yet determine whether the behavior is helpful or harmful to health. The findings underscore the need for further investigation into the effects of snoozing on daytime performance and well-being.

More information:
Study title: Quantifying snooze behavior in a global population of smartphone users.
Link to the report: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-99563-y

For more information please contact
Jonna Grenfeldt | PR & Communications at Sleep Cycle
[email protected] | +46 707 357 539

About Mass General Brigham
Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health care system, uniting great minds to solve the hardest problems in medicine for our communities and the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org.

About Sleep Cycle
Sleep Cycle is dedicated to making healthy sleep accessible to everyone. Our app helps users to build hero habits, identify potential sleep issues, and gain valuable insights into their sleep patterns. Leveraging patented sound technology and over 3 billion analyzed sleep sessions, Sleep Cycle provides unparalleled accuracy and personalized guidance. As part of its broader partnership program, Sleep Cycle offers company partnerships including in-app promotions, tailored SDK solutions, and an extensive data library, enabling businesses to expand their offerings with sleep solutions and insights. Sleep Cycle is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker SLEEP, with its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.