This viral TikTok alarm hack is dividing opinions – and it’s the one sleep hack I’ll never try

I’ve tried many TikTok sleep hacks over the years in the quest to achieve the best night’s sleep possible. But the most recent TikTok sleep hack to go viral is dividing opinions, and even doctors and sleep experts have weighed in on whether you should do it or not. One thing’s for sure – I’m never going to try it, and here’s why.

There’s no better feeling than waking up in the middle of the night, checking the time and realising you still have a few more hours to sleep before your alarm goes off. Well, it turns out that a new TikTok sleep hack is actually trying to simulate this feeling by setting multiple alarms in the night.

As shown in multiple TikTok videos, creators set alarms between 2am to 5am so they can get the satisfaction of turning off their alarms and going back to sleep. Many users have said it makes them feel like they’re having a lie in and getting extra hours of sleep.

But this sleep ‘hack’ isn’t actually as beneficial as some might think. Firstly, alarm clocks or phone alarms can have a negative effect on your body, mainly due to the loud noise that jolts you out of your sleep. This can put a major strain on your body, which can result in increased stress levels, a low mood, and an elevated heart rate and blood pressure.

Having multiple alarms going off throughout the night can scare you, which makes it harder for you to fall back asleep. It’s also incredibly disruptive to your sleep cycle which is the main reason why Dr Jeff Foster, Director of Men’s Health at Voy and an NHS GP Partner is warning people against this viral trend.

As Dr Foster explains, ““Although the feeling of going back to sleep may feel satisfying, deliberately waking yourself up in the middle of the night is unlikely to improve the quality of your sleep. Sleep is made up of different stages, and if it is broken, it can affect how rested you feel.”

Each sleep stage is important in ensuring your sleep is restful and restorative. With the majority of adults needing up to 8.5 hours of sleep per night, this totals to around five sleep cycles, so you should be experiencing multiple phases of light, deep and REM sleep.

As Dr Foster explains, “deep, restorative sleep is important for many processes in the body, including hormone production and other health conditions.” Essentially, using an alarm to disrupt your sleep cycle multiple times in the night can negatively affect many aspects of your brain and body, leaving you feeling tired, irritable and stressed the next day.

Purposely interrupting your sleep goes against everything I know about sleep, regardless of whether it feels satisfying or not at the time. Instead, it’s important to stick to the rules for good sleep hygiene, which include creating and sticking to a regular bedtime routine, avoiding screens late at night and making your environment as comfortable as possible.