Does Listening to Music Help You Fall Asleep Faster?
There are many things that can help us fall asleep like herbal teas, cooling pillows, running around like crazy to hit maximum exhaustion level, or something a little more sophisticated like yoga. Another thing to add to the list is music. And the best part? Anyone can do it.
It doesn’t depend on your tea-making skills, how much you have in your wallet to buy a new accessory, how many things you can fit in a day to tire yourself out, or your flexibility as a yogi. All you need is a playlist and a device to play it on, such as a phone, laptop, or iPad, which we all have at least one of (but most probably all three). Hello, generation of owning multiple devices that all do the same thing in different sizes!
We speak to the experts to get an insight into how music helps us fall asleep, the benefits of using music, what type of music we should listen to, how long it takes for us to fall asleep whilst playing, and whether it works for everyone, so tune in.
Does Music Help Us Fall Asleep?
“Yes, music can help us sleep,” says Dr. Caroline Leaf, world-renowned Neuroscientist, Mental Health, and Mind Expert. “However, it plays a supportive role rather than a primary one.” She explains that the most important and effective “sleep-aid” is mind-management; the messier your mind is when you go to sleep, the worse your sleep will be.
This “messiness” can include suppressed thoughts, undealt with issues, swirling emotional signals that haven’t been decompressed, underlying anguish or trauma, or a pervasive and nagging feeling that something is wrong. If you struggle to sleep at night, it can be an indicator that you need to spring clean your mind (even in the middle of fall).
These issues can then go onto affect deep, non-REM sleep, and may add to your anxiety during the day. In fact, a lot of high delta frequencies in the brain during the day generally indicate suppressed toxic thoughts, which can result in poor sleep quality. “From the data we observed in one of our mind-management studies, sleep issues affected some of the participants’ telomeres, which were shorter than they should have been, suggesting that their biological age was significantly older than their chronological age,” she says.
“When we go into deep, regenerative sleep, we see a lot of delta waves in the brain, and, at a certain frequency point when sleeping, the enzyme telomerase and growth hormone are released, which work with the telomeres to keep our cells healthy.” There are many things we can do to help keep our cells healthy, and adding music to our bedtime routine can be a lot more enjoyable than making sure you eat all your veggies.
Several research studies suggest that negative thoughts are one of the main contributors to sleep loss in people with insomnia and that using music as a healthy “distraction” from thought can be helpful for some people. “Based on my own research and practice, using both mind-management and music may be a significant help for people battling with insomnia.
How Does Music Help Us Fall Asleep?
“In 2014, experts in Japan reviewed 18 reliable science-based studies about the effectiveness of MT (music therapy) in treating a wide range of conditions,” says Andrei Marhol, MD, Ph.D., and Medical Adviser at Loóna. “The review indicated that one of the reasons MT improved sleep quality among participants was because it improved mental health as “the beauty and rhythm of the music tone allowed the patient to be comfortable.”
Music allows us to create a relaxing environment wherever we may be. If we pick songs with happy memories and good times we can make a time capsule come to life which can be a great comfort to those left lying awake at night with anxious thoughts.
After a long day, our bodies need more time to rest than they do during other periods of the day because our body’s cortisol levels (a hormone triggered by stress) are higher at night than in the daytime. “Playing music before bed tricks your cortisol levels into thinking that it is nighttime and lowers them from their daytime high levels back down to nighttime low-levels so your body can “reset” and begin entering hibernation sleep mode,” says Robert Pagano, Co-Founder of Sleepline.
What Are the Benefits of Using Music To Help Us Fall Asleep?
Music can help calm the brain by balancing the autonomic nervous system, which then calms down the whole body. This, in turn, can help decrease the warning signals of anxiety pinging in the nonconscious mind, which often keeps us awake at night. “Music at night also seems to positively impact our blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate, while potentially reducing cortisol levels and releasing dopamine, which helps us get into a more positive mindset before falling asleep,” says Dr. Leaf.
The review Marhol mentioned earlier discovered that MT has additional benefits of improving schizophrenia, other serious mental disorders, gait and related Parkinson’s disease, depression, and sleep quality. At the very least, music therapy is a joyful experience for most of us.
Plus, dreams can actually be influenced by what we’ve been thinking or experiencing right up until the point of falling asleep. If you’re lucky enough to be a dreamer (depending on your mood) you’ve probably noticed that when you’re feeling good it’s all rainbows and unicorns, and when you’re not, it’s well, the opposite. Listening to uplifting music before bed to help you fall asleep will make it easier to tap into your happy place and give yourself a better chance at a blissful dream rather than a nightmare you can’t wait to wake up from.
What Type of Music Should We Be Listening To?
“A Swedish study recommended the use of MT in hospitals to cater for the emotional, spiritual and psychological needs of patients on the basis that “slow […] flowing […] nonlyrical” music stimulates and maintains relaxation, wellbeing, and comfort,” says Marhol.
But there haven’t been enough studies to determine which type of music provides optimal sleep. “What we do know is that studies have typically used either a self-curated playlist or a one that has been designed specifically with sleep in mind,” says Dr. Leaf. She says it does seem that calming music is better than rhythmic music, which we find easy to believe otherwise we’re left fighting the urge to boogie (or some of us anyway).
She recommends playing it quietly on a device instead of using earphones, as the use of earphones whilst sleeping may cause damage to the inner ear. Plus, you risk getting tangled in them during the night if you like to move about whilst you sleep. Or just a shock in the middle of the night as you find an earphone in a place where you definitely don’t want an earphone!
When Should We Begin Playing Music To Fall Asleep? Is There a Time It Works Best?
According to a few studies, around 45 minutes of music before going to sleep can improve sleep quality. “A Cochrane report on sleep literature said that the daily use of music, prior to sleep, was effective in improving overall sleep quality; however this may look different for different people,” says Dr. Leaf. However, other studies have discovered for some participants it only takes 5-15 minutes for them to fall asleep instead of their usual 30-60 minutes without music.
We recommend setting a timer for around 20 minutes and if you notice the music has stopped playing, you’re obviously still awake and can reset it for longer. But if you don’t, you’ve found the perfect amount of time to play music to help you fall asleep. If you’re struggling with time, it’s worth playing around with the songs you have on your playlist. Stick to the relaxed, chilled-out good vibes as this type of music is most likely to work best.
Will Listening To Music Help Everyone Fall Asleep or Is It Only Certain Types of People?
“Music appears to be helpful to most people, but this will also look different for different kinds of people,” says Dr. Leaf. “There is no cookie-cutter approach when it comes to helping people sleep well, as different issues keep us up at different points in our life.”
If you’re up late and feeling restless because you’re nervous about a first date tomorrow you’ll probably have little to no trouble falling asleep to relaxing music, but if you’re tossing and turning over real life-changing head-scratchers, you might have difficulty at first. But don’t give up! You may be one of the 45-minute people, or just have a different idea of what relaxing music is. Classical music won’t do it for us all, it definitely doesn’t do it for us all while we’re awake.
