How Music Can Help You Sleep Better

Your mind can’t help but follow along, and lyrics can be mentally stimulating. You want to give those cognitive centers of your brain a rest, not light them up. When we find ways to relieve stress and improve mood, sleep almost always improves. Music, with its ability to activate and influence the emotional and memory centers of our brain, can help.

Classical music is often used in the studies I’ve cited here and is a popular choice for bedtime listening. Another indirect benefit of listening to music may have for sleep? Physical pain and discomfort are common obstacles to sleeping well.

Relaxing music triggers changes to the body and, in many ways, mimics a sleepy state. A slower heart rate, slower breathing, and lower blood pressure are all physiological changes that make the process of falling asleep and staying asleep possible. Music also has a soothing effect, helps tune out the thoughts, and eases stress and anxiety. Listening to music that relaxes you before bed is essentially helping your body to tune to sleep mode, both physically and psychologically. Our analysis indicated that music use was a significant predictor of PSQI score, with those using music less having higher PSQI scores, or lower sleep quality. It is notable that although our online survey focused on music for sleep, we found that only 62% of respondents reported using music for this purpose.

Diane Arkenstone, a contemporary new age music artist, has dozens of albums filled with relaxing, meditative music that’s designed to quiet the mind and release stress. Researchers have discovered that listening to music can lower anxiety significantly and can be even more effective than certain prescription drugs. Stress is unquestionably the most common challenge for people who struggle with sleep. Those who suffer from depression, anxiety, and any other mood disorder often struggle with sleep and may even have insomnia. Whatever makes you feel calm, soothed, relaxed, and puts your body and mind in a restful mode is the right choice for you.

In addition to the physiological changes in the body, music also has a positive effect on our emotional brain by easing stress and reducing anxiety. The reasons why music can help you sleep better are still not perfectly clear, however, it may have to do with the relaxing effect that a soothing melody can have. It also may be because music can trigger feel-good chemicals and hormones in the brain, like serotonin and oxytocin.

Oral appliances for sleep apnea have been proven effective in helping patients to sleep better. From figuring out how to buy a mattress online, suggesting ones that are good for different needs and body types, or breaking down the newest science behind technology and wellness breakthroughs, Sleep Advisor has you covered. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to better health and better rest, but no one has time to sleep, let alone figure out how to upgrade the sleep they’re getting. Found that the 8-minute song “Weightless” by Marconi Union led to a 65 percent reduction in overall anxiety among participants and a 35 percent drop in their physiological resting rates. In fact, the participants became so drowsy that they were advised to not listen to the song while driving.

To comprehend the degree to which music is having an effect on sleep, moderating factors such as musical engagement should be considered alongside music structure and preferences. A better understanding of the role of individual differences when it comes to using music as a sleep aid may also have implications for the function of music in wellbeing settings such as pain therapy and depression. In our data musical engagement played a significant role in the frequency of which individuals are using music as a sleep aid. Hence in our sample, music provides an option for many who are seeking help at a low cost and with no determinable side effects. In terms of what these individuals chose to listen to within the music available to them, we note a large diversity within their responses, with great variety in the musical genres. These playlists generally include tracks with relatively low tempo (60–80 beats per minute), low amplitude, and relatively little or slow-moving change, and are of a smooth/legato nature .

These studies are often performed on people who are undergoing medical treatments like surgery. Listening to music can help both acute pain and chronic pain, including hard-to-treat chronic pain associated with conditions like fibromyalgia. So, it’s no surprise that scientific research has measured several benefits that music can have on sleep. Music is an incredible tool for emotional health, daily performance, and sleep.

The most common reason given for using music as a sleep aid was to ‘help fall asleep quicker’. 56.82% of participants who used music to help them sleep claimed they strongly agreed or agreed with this statement, and only 20.10% said they disagreed or strongly disagreed. This was followed by ‘reduction in time spent in bed before falling asleep’ (54.35%), and ‘increases sleep satisfaction’ (34.74%). Studies into music’s efficacy as a Sleeping Music sleep aid have used subjective self-report measures and occasionally objective measures such as actigraphy and polysomnography. The majority have been conducted in clinical populations such as individuals with chronic insomnia or patients in hospital settings [28–30].

After WWII, musicians were brought to U.S. hospitals to aid the healing of soldiers’ physical and emotional trauma. Classical music is commonly thought of as somnolent music, that which makes us feel drowsy, sleepy and peaceful. When it comes to relaxing meditation music for sleep, try “Canzonetta Sul-aria” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nocturne No.2, Op.9 by Frédéric Chopin or this 8-hour mix of Classical Music for Sleeping. And then there is a group of humans who enjoy falling asleep to music. My sense was the structural integrity of Bach, Mozart and some of the other classical music masters couldn’t help but fuel beneficial development of neural pathways. Ever since, if I find my own mind racing when it’s time to hit the pillow, I turn to this recording to help shut off the chaos of the day and enter a more peaceful inner space.