Having trouble sleeping? Hit Snooze is Mashable's deep dive into the many ways to achieve a more peaceful slumber.
Getting enough sleep is essential to good health, but millions of people struggle with it. In particular, a lot of us have a hard time getting to sleep — according to the New York Times, as many as "20 to 30 percent of people in the general population sleep poorly."
Many of us turn to calming music in the hopes that it will lull us out of our anxiety spiral and into something resembling rest. Music won't cure your insomnia, but it can provide short-term relief: There's even evidence that listening to music before sleep might improve sleep quality.
But if you look at YouTube or Spotify, the options that promise to help you achieve a blissful state of pre-bed meditation or the deepest sleep you can imagine can be overwhelming. So which tunes are actually the most helpful?
The answer, of course, depends largely on the person: You're not going to fall asleep to a song if you can't stop thinking about how much you hate it. But if you want to make a starter sleep playlist (and let's face it, you probably have time right now), there are a few guidelines you should follow.
First, it's generally agreed upon that lyrics are a no-go, as they're likely to spur our brains into more activity. "Lyrics tend to remind of people or events in our lives and that can drive anxiety or deep thought," says Dr. Nancy Irwin, a Los Angeles-based psychologist who specializes in sleep hygiene and disorders. She recommends listening to instrumental music instead, particularly tracks that rely on low instruments like the cello or the double bass.
"I would avoid anything upbeat, bombastic, or with a high-pitched instrument [like] violin or flute," she adds.
It's also good to keep tempo in mind. Martin Reed, a certified clinical sleep health educator and the founder of sleep coaching company Insomnia Coach, recommends "simple music with a slow tempo," particularly songs between 60 and 80 BPM, or beats per minute. Not sure how to calculate BPM? Here's a handy tool. Or you can peruse the sleep playlists on Spotify, most of which fit the tempo criteria.
There is a song that's praised frequently as the most relaxing: "Weightless" by the UK band Marconi Union. In a 2017 study conducted by Mindlab International, participants listening to the song experienced a "65 percent reduction in overall anxiety." That's by design: The band composed the song in collaboration with sound therapists. As Inc reported when the study was published, it was actually designed to "slow a listener's heart rate, reduce blood pressure and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol." The song was so effective that the scientist who conducted the research cautioned against listening to it while driving. (It clocks in at 60 BPM, by the way.)
If you don't want to listen to music-music, noise is also an option. You've probably heard of white noise, which is defined by its flat spectral density — that is, it contains all the available frequencies of sound at the same intensity, which is great for masking disruptive environmental noise. There's also pink noise, which is similar to white noise but decreases in intensity as the frequency increases. This makes it seem a bit more soothing, kind of like when a song has a lot of cello or bass. (A UC Berkeley explainer calls it "white noise with the bass turned up.") Then there's brown noise, which lowers the high frequencies even more.
It's worth noting that while noise machines, apps, and playlists are a classic fix for people who have trouble falling asleep, they're not perfect: When you rely on the same sound for sleep, you risk creating a sleep association, which means you'll eventually have an even harder time getting to sleep if the sound isn't there. That's not advisable in the long run.
Of course, if you're struggling with insomnia or suspect a medical condition is to blame for your sleep troubles, a doctor is your best resource. And if even Marconi Union doesn't help you drift off, don't beat yourself up: Considering everything happening (gestures vaguely), it's normal to feel worried right now.
