Dmac Blog

As the end of the 04/05 school years begins to come to close, things are getting quite hectic in my world. I have purchased and moved into an awesome new house, which has taken up the majority of my time. Lately, I have been putting in some long hours and waking up early every morning. Every time the alarm goes off I let out a groaning sound that would suffice for a great imitation of a wookie. Immediately after I groan, I hit the dreaded snooze button for 9 more minutes in Dreamland.

Have you ever wondered why on God’s green Earth they decided to make it 9 minutes? Not 10, Not 15, but 9 strangely odd minutes???? My curiosity had to be satisfied today with some early morning research. It turns out that the first snooze alarm was implemented on a gear powered clock. In order to insert a gear into the clock work and have the teeth of the gear mesh perfectly, they had a choice of 9 plus minutes or 10 plus minutes. 10 minutes exactly was not an option do to the gear configuration. Apparently, they couldn’t justify sending someone back to sleep for over 10 minutes due to the fact that it was enough time to go back into the rem sleep cycle. Based on this study, they went with the 9 plus minutes, which eventually became 9 minutes exactly (and a true snooze time). And once digital clocks came along there was no need to break away from the standard norm. So here we are in the age of technology with a 9 minute snooze button.

I hit the snooze button 1 time everyday. According to USA Today, more than 33% of American adults hit the snooze button every morning and average of three times. I’m curious to know my readers alarm clock ritual. Leave a comment!! How many times do you hit the snooze?