Music is an integral part of an average human’s daily activities, and so is sleep. Both get us through complicated and stressful situations by stimulating brain activity and happy hormones. Does it ever make you wonder what happens if you mix both?
Listening to music while sleeping is a good thing. It can even improve mood, memory, sleep efficiency, and overall mental well-being. The trick is to find what type of music suits you best and sleep through it.
Isn’t it interesting how combining two good things can result in something even better? If you’d like to know the specific advantages of sleeping with the music turned on, keep reading!
The Benefits of Listening to Music While Sleeping
Listening to music while sleeping boosts your overall mental well-being. Sleeping while listening to your preferred playlist can also enhance your next day’s performance by giving you improved mood and memory capacity.
Enhances Sleep Quality
Investing time and effort in making sure you sleep comfortably may have substantial returns.
Do you know how babies love lullabies? You’ve certainly seen parents and caregivers sing to babies to help them fall asleep. Given these, it’s no surprise that we feel like music and sleep remain a perfect pair even as grown-ups.
Music enhances sleep quality by drowning out all the other external sounds and helping you stay focused on simply falling asleep.
Music also helps reduce blood pressure and heart rate, making it easier for the body to sleep. The relaxing effect of music on the body goes as far as helping it recover from serious illnesses such as chronic heart conditions.
The health benefits of having a better quality of sleep are actually cyclic. If you sleep well, you are more likely to develop resilience to a wide variety of health conditions. Being free from health woes can then help you achieve better sleep qualities in the long term.
Improves Mood
Listening to music both when consciously awake and while asleep can reduce stress and anxiety.
Good music can trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter more popularly known as one of the “happy hormones.”
If you leave your speakers on and play songs that bring you good vibes, you will likely wake up in a good mood from the dopamine release.
With this said, you have to note that not all types of music are created equal. Some songs can bring you to a better mood, while some may trigger anxiety and stress. Choosing the appropriate music to get you to sleep and keep you relaxed is critical in reaping the benefits of listening to music while asleep.
Boosts Memory
You may have experienced specific memories popping up in your head whenever you hear a song from your childhood. The music we hear quickly attaches to whatever event was taking place at the time, and the next time we hear the same song play, we are likely to remember whatever took place when we heard it previously.
Music stimulates the hippocampus, and having it play while you sleep may lead to improved memory capacity.
This can be a major life upgrade, as it can potentially help us become more efficient at sticking to plans and strategizing.
Hence, paying attention to how you sleep and what types of music you listen to can enhance your lifestyle by improving your brain capacity. Sounds worth it, doesn’t it?
Contributes to Overall Mental Wellbeing
Incorporating music in sleep can aid in reducing multiple mental health woes such as depression-induced insomnia.
In a particular study, participants were asked to use a sound pillow that emits low-volume music. The respondents then click on a playlist of their choice, and the next day, their subjective and objective sleep quality assessments are analyzed.
The study found that music improved the sleep quality of the subjects suffering from depression. Sleep quality among the experimental group was enhanced, potentially as they became more relaxed by listening to their preferred set of songs at non-disruptive volumes.
While more studies are still needed to build stronger correlations between other mental health concerns and sleeping with the music on, these early research efforts show that those suffering from mental health issues can potentially gain considerable benefits with the right music settings.
How to Incorporate Music Into Your Sleep Routine
To integrate music into your sleep routine, you can start by curating your own playlist, experimenting with music genre and volume, and investing in good-quality speakers. In time, you’ll be able to have a go-to playlist that keeps you relaxed while asleep.
Curate Your Own Music Playlist
Choosing the right set of songs to play while you are asleep is crucial, and the wrong music choices may not yield the same positive results typically expected with sleeping with the music on.
Spotify is an excellent app you can use to create your playlist. When building your music library, the app suggests additional songs based on your prior selection. This makes the processes much quicker and easier.
You can also opt to use playlists that other Spotify users made themselves and are publicly available. Typing the music category you are looking for on the app’s search bar will bring you a variety of choices.
Of course, you can also simply ask friends and family for playlists, especially if they already use one to fall asleep. Their set of songs may not immediately suit you seamlessly, but if you’re unsure which songs to pick for when you are sleeping, then it could be an excellent place to start.
Experiment on Music Genre
Curating your playlist is crucial because when it comes to listening to music while sleeping, you cannot always simply choose the regular songs you play as you go about your day.
For instance, songs that bring you strong emotions are not advisable. They might leave you overthinking or reminiscing negative memories rather than staying relaxed. You will miss out on the opportunity to have the night to recover physically and mentally, and you might even wake up groggy and in a bad mood.
Songs that are too upbeat may also mess with your sleep, and the best songs to listen to while sleeping are those whose tempos are in sync with your resting heart rate.
Resting heart rates vary from person to person. It is mediated by age, heart health, and other major lifestyle attributes such as medications and athletic experience (e.g., athletes can have heart rates of 40 beats per minute and still be healthy, although the average resting heart rate is between 60 to 100 bpm).
You can try on different sets of songs for a few days and keep a personal journal of how your sleep has been for each set. This means it may take some time to hop on the best playlist, but it also means you’re on your way there.
Experiment on Music Volume
The music volume can also be a crucial factor in reaping the benefits of playing music while asleep. Too loud music may be more bothersome than helpful, while too soft may be useless and a waste of phone or computer battery.
Like your mini-experiment on the music genre, you can record the chosen sleep volume in a bullet journal and indicate your sleep quality the following day.
The HUAWEI Watch GT 2 offers a smart watch with a sleep quality monitor that can assist you in having more objective assessments of your sleep.
Invest in a Good Set of Speakers
As much as possible, avoid using your earbuds or headphones to listen to music while you’re sleeping. Wearing these over your ears may make you feel constricted in your movements, making it even harder for you to fall asleep.
You can invest in an eXuby Bluetooth Speaker or a Sound Oasis Sleep Therapy Pillow instead. They do not only make you feel more comfortable, but they also spare you from possible injuries that sleeping with earbuds on can cause.
Looking for one that has excellent sound quality and precise volume controls would be an ideal place to start.
When opting for speakers, choose one that does not have bothersome lights that automatically turn on when the speakers are used. Lights can be a source of distraction and lead to poor sleep.
Meanwhile, the more comfortable types of sound pillows are those that use ultra-thin speakers that do not cause discomfort when you lay your head on it.
Conclusion
The best thing about music and sleep is that they only result in something even better when combined. Imagine having two nice things almost totally free of charge – that’s precisely what you’re getting when you sleep with music on.
Resting well allows your body to recover from a long day of exhaustion and possibly, stress. The performance boost from better overall mood and improved memory capacity can also result in better school or work experiences. Finally, the light disposition from a relaxing sleep also helps you establish and maintain rapport with the people around you.
