A PRACTICAL GUIDE
By the Rise team · Updated 21 October 2026.
We make Rise, an alarm app. The plan below works with any alarm; Rise is one option at the end.
To wake up on the first alarm, set one alarm for the time you actually need to get up, put it out of reach, and keep that time every day, weekends included. If you rely on several alarms, cut them back one at a time over a week or two. Most people who need lots of alarms are short on sleep, so fix bedtime too.
Below: whether one alarm really is better, how to step down from several, and a two-minute practice run to help you practise getting up.
In short
Waking on the first alarm is generally better. CNN, on 28 June 2024, says stacked alarms and snoozing do the same thing. Dr Brandon Peters, quoted there, says snoozing "does actually fragment and undermine that sleep quality". He recommends one alarm, so sleep continues uninterrupted.
Dr Alicia Roth, of the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center, quoted by CNN, says if you need to be up at 7:00 and the alarm starts at 6:00, you get an hour of bad-quality sleep instead of sleeping through.
Stanford Lifestyle Medicine says put the phone out of arm's reach and get out of bed right after the alarm.
It is not a crisis if you snooze. A 2023 lab study of 31 habitual snoozers found that 30 minutes of snoozing cost about 6 minutes of sleep and did not harm performance straight after waking (Sundelin and colleagues, Journal of Sleep Research). Getting up first gives you that sleep without the broken bit. More on whether snoozing is bad.
Most people who need several alarms are short on sleep. Dr Cathy Goldstein, of Michigan Medicine, quoted by CNN, says that is true most of the time. Dr Alicia Roth, in the same piece, names another reason: a night owl on an early schedule.
Sleep inertia, the groggy transition out of sleep, can mean you switch alarms off without remembering. Goldstein says that. The Cleveland Clinic describes snoozing with no memory of the decision. See why you keep snoozing an alarm.
Decide that time the night before, while you are awake. Do not set it 30 minutes early as a buffer. CNN describes a 7:00 wake with the first alarm at 6:30. Dr Alicia Roth, quoted by CNN, says an alarm at 6:00, when you need 7:00, is an hour of bad-quality sleep rather than sleeping through.
The NHS says most healthy adults need around 7 to 9 hours, so count back from the alarm and move bedtime earlier gradually. Dr Cathy Goldstein, quoted by CNN, suggests 30 minutes earlier every few days, or an hour earlier once a week. The Cleveland Clinic suggests 15 or 20 minutes earlier for a few days at a time. More on sleep.
This is our method, not a study. List your alarms. Every two or three days, delete the earliest, and keep the last at your real wake time. Keep one backup a few minutes later while you step down, then remove it once you have got up on the first alarm for a week. Dr Alicia Roth, quoted by CNN, recommends setting just one alarm, though it can be hard after several have been a safety net.
You have to stand up to silence it. Stanford Lifestyle Medicine says put the phone out of arm's reach and get out of bed right after the alarm. The Cleveland Clinic says put it across the room so you have to get up to turn it off. See that tip in the snooze guide.
That includes weekends. Dr Cathy Goldstein, quoted by CNN, says wake and sleep around the same times, because a weekend lie-in makes the early alarm harder. Dr Brandon Peters, in that piece, says 15 to 30 minutes of morning sunlight can help shift the body clock, especially for night owls. The Cleveland Clinic says morning light helps. Same wake time and daylight.
It is a habit drill, not research, and there is no set number of days. Sleep Advisor describes it: during the day, lie down in bed, set an alarm a few minutes ahead, and when it rings get straight up and do your first morning action. Try that a few times, on a few days.
A starting plan, not a promise.
If you are exhausted every day despite enough time in bed, or you cannot wake to alarms at all, speak to a GP. The NHS says to see a GP if trouble sleeping is affecting your daily life. Waking with no alarm is not the aim. Dr Cathy Goldstein, quoted by CNN, says that is not realistic for everyone, especially with sleep inertia or a late body clock. "We never want to sleep shame people," she says. This is not a diagnosis.
Optional. Rise lets you set the snooze price the night before, as in step 1. Snoozes cost the price you chose while awake. A nudge you set yourself.
Rise is an Android alarm clock with optional Pay to Snooze. Android only, and iOS is coming soon. You set a token price per snooze, per alarm, no minimum or maximum, locked once the alarm rings. No card is charged automatically. Tokens come in packs: 10 for £0.89, 50 for £3.49, and 200 for £8.99 in the UK. Tokens do not expire. At zero tokens, snoozing is free. Switch Pay to Snooze off per alarm. Default snooze is 9 minutes.
Get Rise on Google PlayGenerally, yes. Dr Brandon Peters, quoted by CNN, says snoozing "does actually fragment and undermine that sleep quality", and stacked alarms do the same. One alarm lets that sleep continue. It is not a crisis if you snooze. A 2023 lab study of 31 habitual snoozers found 30 minutes of snoozing cost about 6 minutes of sleep and did not harm performance straight after waking.
Set one alarm for the time you need to get up, put it out of reach, and keep that time every day. Step any others down one at a time, and try a practice run while you are awake. These steps are a habit plan, not a researched timetable.
Experts quoted by CNN advise one alarm. Dr Alicia Roth says an alarm at 6:00, when you need 7:00, is an hour of bad-quality sleep. If you use several, step down gradually and keep a short backup. That cut is our suggestion, not a study.
Usually you are short on sleep. Dr Cathy Goldstein, quoted by CNN, says that is true most of the time. Dr Alicia Roth adds a night owl on an early schedule. Sleep inertia can also mean switching an alarm off without remembering. See why you keep snoozing.
Keep one backup a few minutes after your real wake time, and put the alarm out of reach. The NHS says most healthy adults need around 7 to 9 hours. After a week of getting up on the first alarm, drop the backup. It is a safety net for the change.
It varies. The sources do not give a fixed number of days. Consistency matters most: the same wake time, enough sleep, and one alarm you get up for. The two-week plan is a starting point you can repeat, not a deadline.
It can add a nudge you choose the night before, while you are awake. In Rise, each snooze costs a token price you set, and no card is charged automatically. It is optional and can be switched off per alarm. It is not a claim that you will get up. See how Pay to Snooze works.