Today Anthony Collins tells us what we can do during those magical 9 minutes provided by the “Snooze” button. Enter Anthony:

This morning, like most mornings, my alarm went off at 7.10am. Also like most mornings, I didn’t actually get out of bed until 7.37am because I pressed the ‘Snooze’ button 3 times.

But something different happened this morning too. As I leaned over to press the button with my eyes barely open for my first round of 9 minute sleep breaks, the small section of my brain that had woke up had a thought; what is the point of the snooze button?

I know it’s obvious that I wanted a few more minutes in bed, but is a regularly interrupted extra half an hour of sleep really going to make any difference to how awake I am during the day? I’ve never jumped out of bed at 7.37am and said “Oh thank goodness for that extra 30 minutes lying in bed and putting off the inevitable fact that I need to get up and get ready for work” either.

As I rolled over after turning my radio alarm clock off from the sounds of Classic FM (not my personal taste, I just find it soothes me awake gentler than Chris Moyles’ voice. Those in the UK would know what I am talking about!) I had another thought; why not spend my snooze time doing something productive, or even getting ready so I don’t have to rush around like a mad man before leaving the house on time?

Well, I thought about it at least. And then I tried to go back to sleep on the promise I’d do it later! I have stuck to that promise too, here are 5 things I feel could be time better spent during the countdown to getting out of bed.

5. Get a cup of tea

Or I suppose if you’re American a cup of coffee (You really need to discover the joys of tea, America!). Some of you might be lucky enough to get this made by someone else, whether it be Mother, Wife, Butler or maybe a generous housemate who wakes up a bit earlier than you. For those without that privilege, you can always buy a Teasmade that will get a pot on the boil the second the alarm goes off and wakes you up.

4. Have a dream

Not really one that you can make the choice to do, but great when it does happen. The average person dreams 1-2 hours a night and fits anything between four and seven dreams in that time. Based on that figure, 9 minutes between beeps and alarm sounds is more than enough time to have an epic morning adventure from the comfort of the sheets.

3. Forget you pressed the snooze button and get up

I actually did this not too long ago, much to the dismay of my family. It was in the summer holidays while the kids were off school, and it was a morning when I woke up naturally and went for a shower whilst forgetting to turn the alarm off. My son was not too happy to be woke up 3 hours before the end of his lay in to get up and turn my alarm off. I can’t say I had much sympathy for him, considering he went back to bed straight away afterwards anyway! How is this productive? Well it’s not, but at least you can ditch the bitterness of being the only person in the house up at the crack of dawn!

2. Accidentally turn it off

Okay, this is probably the one you don’t want to do, but we’ve all done it once or twice. It’s never a great feeling to apologise for being an hour late to work and making the time up over the week by staying an extra 15 minutes each day, but you probably  got enough extra ZZZs to make it worth your while!

1. And finally, my personal favourite; Get ready!

I’m one of those people who isn’t particularly great at getting an early night, I’ll be honest. If I get home late I’d rather get everything done then so I don’t have to get up earlier and do it in the morning.  One thing I sometimes do is have a shower last thing before bed so I wake up clean. This then means I can then do bits of my routine between snoozes. It means my morning can sometimes go like this…

Alarm > Put shirt on > Sleep > Alarm > Brush teeth > Sleep > Alarm > Wash face > Sleep > Alarm > Wake up and finish getting ready!

You may think this sounds slightly mad, and maybe it is. But it works for me!

What do you do in the morning to get ready? Do you have any tips to get the most of snooze time? Share them in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you!

Anthony Collins specialises in Tissot watches at UK based online watch store Find Watches. Despite being so used to clocks and beepy noises in the office, it has made it no easier to adjust to the sound of them in the morning!