It is the most tempting thing in the world, as my alarm clock jolts me awake in the morning, to roll over and immediately find the snooze button for those precious few minutes of more sleep.

And who can resist the temptation? Here we are in the dead of another Omaha winter.  The freezing temperatures are trying to invade through my window, the sun has barely risen above the horizon and I am safe and cozy underneath

the covers.

In a half-asleep dazed moment of weakness I choose nine more minutes of sleep. Then nine minutes later I make the same weak decision again and again until I’m running late before my day has even begun.

So how come after I indulge myself with all of this extra sleep I still feel tired? The truth is hitting the snooze button might actually be the cause of this grogginess. As you doze throughout the night, the restful REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage of sleep becomes longer each time you return to it and is at its longest in the morning right before you wake up.

Continually hitting the snooze button interrupts this final stage of REM sleep and could be the cause of the sleep-deprived hangover that lasts all day. Studies have shown that a lack of sleep can negatively affect memory, comprehension, attention and can increase feelings of irritability and depression.

The solution: if you’re an iPhone user you could download a handy sleep cycle alarm clock that you place beneath the sheets and claims to wake you up at the best time based on your body movements.  Or if you don’t like to sleep with your phone quite literally in the sheets with you, you can simply wake up when your alarm goes off.

Be realistic and set your alarm to a reasonable time and stick with it so that you can actually enjoy the benefits of that last cycle of sleep. If this still proves too difficult, try moving the alarm clock to the other side of the room so that you have to get up in order to shut it off.

This works particularly well if you have a roommate that you are afraid of annoying with your alarm.

You can also try setting a timer on lights or a television to go off in sync with the alarm. The extra stimulation might just be the push you need to get out of bed.

So the next time you lunge for the snooze button and those extra minutes of sleep, think twice because they might not always be as beneficial as they feel.