by Emilie Glen Colsted

Relaxing Music

Boring lectures and monotonous speeches are good examples of auditory stimuli that may lull you to sleep involuntarily.

But what remedies are effective when you actually want to doze off? Some recommend drinking warm milk with honey before going to bed. Others like to count sheep after they have closed their eyes. However, if you don’t drink milk and you have reached sheep number 5000 without any luck, you may consider using a different method like listening to some calm music on YouTube.

Parents have, for the longest time, tucked in their children while singing a calming lullaby. These loving hymns have helped children sleep for centuries, but as an adult, it can be quite challenging to convince someone to sing you to sleep. So how can we compensate?

While there is no doubt the safety associated with hearing a parent’s voice gently singing is a big factor in why lullabies are so sleep-inducing, the musical element alone can also do wonders when trying to sleep.

Music and the parasympathetic nervous system

Does listening to music help you sleep? The answer is yes, music can successfully aid sleep (Dickson & Schubert, 2020).

Calming music affects the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps the body find rest and prepare for sleep. Listening to relaxing, soothing music can not only help you fall asleep faster, but it also helps you retain a more complete sleep and wake up less frequently at night.

Want help with finding the right sleep-inducing music? Then try out the tool: Calming Music.

Clear your Mind for Sleep

A great tool to pair calming music with for sound sleep is Clear your Mind for Sleep. This tool helps you confront cognitive distortions that keep you from falling asleep.