Ambient Sleep Sounds: Do They Help You Relax Or Fall Asleep?

Despite having a quiet room and a comfortable bed to sleep on, you toss and turn on your bed. That’s because you need something more than this to fall asleep.
If you are an insomniac or find it hard to fall asleep, you should list some of the best ambient sleep sounds. In such scenarios, a little relaxing sound can be a game-changer.

What are ambient sleep sounds?

Ambient sleep sounds can be any relaxing or soothing sound that has a calming effect on your mind and brain. Nature sounds, ocean waves, falling rain are some of the best examples of ambient sounds. These type of soothing sounds helps you to fall asleep faster and even mask any unwanted noises around you.

How relaxing ambient sounds help you sleep?

You must have heard many people falling asleep to relaxing ambient sleep noises. Now the question is how these relaxing sounds help you sleep? Or how it affects your brain?

Relaxing sounds have a different effect on your brain than loud and disturbing noises. These sounds are constant noises of a pleasant pitch, which is interpreted as non-threatening by your brain. This helps your brain to reduce the fight-or-flight response. It helps you to calm down and relaxes your mind by reducing stress levels.

Peaceful ambient sounds like nature noises help mask annoying noises that can wake you up. If your house is located on a busy street, you can play some ambient noises in the night to fall asleep faster. This is also helpful for people who are insomniac.

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Types Of Relaxing Ambient Sleep Sounds

There are different types of relaxing ambient sleep sounds. If you go to the app store of your phone, you will find several apps offering ambient sounds.

White Noise

The number of insomniacs has increased due to the poor lifestyle habits of people. If you are one of them and have trouble falling asleep, there is an easy fix for you. Put on some white noise and it may help you fall asleep. This is also effective in a loud environment. The white noise will mask the disturbing noises and doze you off to sleep.

White noise is a mixture of different sound frequencies at once with the same intensity level. It is very effective in masking other sounds that disrupt your sleep. White noise provides a steady and even stream of sound that has a soothing effect on your brain. A study printed in the journal Sleep Medicine stated that a hospital ICU awakened less often during the night because of white sound present.

Pink Noise

We already discussed white noise. But there’s something called pink noise too. It is getting quite popular these days. It is said to be a potential sleep booster. However, it is completely different from white noise. Instead of giving equal intensity to all sound frequencies, pink noise creates a perfect balance of low and high frequency.

The specialty of pink noise is that it mimics nature sounds. There are a lot of studies that show pink noise to be effective for sleep. If you listen to pink noise before bed, you are likely to fall asleep faster.

There’s a new study on pink noise that shows it can help improve memory. The study was conducted by researchers at North-western University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. So if you want to improve your memory during sleep, you should put on some pink noise.

Relaxing nature sounds

Nature sounds have become quite popular these days. It is used by many people who have struggled to sleep. You will find plenty of apps and sound machines offering sounds of rain, trees, and wilderness. According to science, these type of soothing nature sounds has a calming effect on your mind.

Nature sounds are deeply soothing. Researchers at Britain’s University of Sussex conducted an experiment where participants were made to listen to nature sound recordings and artificial sounds while monitoring their brain system activity. The study found that nature sounds caused more outward-focused attention in the brain. For those who don’t know inward-focused attention is related to stress, anxiety, and depression. All of these are enemies to your sleep. Scientists also found that the nervous systems of participants were calmer while listening to nature sounds.

So if you have trouble sleeping, you can listen to nature sounds to fall asleep faster. This will also help reduce stress levels and keep your mind off unwanted thoughts.

Sound of ocean/sea waves

Have you ever listened to the sound of the ocean in the night? It sounds pleasant and out of the world. There’s no doubt that ocean sounds have something special about it. This is why it is quite popular as ambient sleep sounds. At least 4 out of 10 people will prefer to listen to ocean sounds before sleeping.

The sound of crashing waves on rocks sounds rhythmic to many people. If you listen to it carefully, you will notice it too. It helps create a positive mental state and helps you to relax. It also increases your focus and contentment.

You don’t have to stay near a beach or ocean to listen to ocean sounds. There are plenty of apps that offer this type of nature sounds. You can even download it online. Ocean sounds are effective because they are interpreted as non-threatening by the brain. Hence, it helps calm down people. If you have sleeping issues, you should listen to ocean sounds.

Soft and soothing music

Even relaxing music has the same effect as other ambient sleep sounds. Music that sounds soothing can help lower your heart rate and blood pressure. Not just that, but it also helps soothe anxiety and a racing mind.

There are days when you have hundreds of thoughts running in your mind. Due to this, you are unable to sleep. In such a scenario, you should listen to some soft and soothing music. This can make a lot of difference. The sound of music will create a calm mental state which will eventually help you to fall asleep.

There are enough studies that show music has a calming effect on the mind. One such example is the study conducted by researchers at Hungary’s Semmelweis University. They found that listening to classical music while falling asleep helps improve the quality of your sleep. Adults with sleeping problems can benefit a lot from this.

Water sounds

Do you like the sound of water? The sound of flowing water or rain has the same effect on your mind as the sound of ocean waves. This is why so many of you feel calm and relaxed on rainy days.

There are different types of water sounds and each one of them is unique. If you listen to water sounds during bedtime, it will help you fall asleep faster. If you are an insomniac, you should try water sounds. It can surprisingly change your sleep routine.

The sound of water has gradual variations and it sounds gentle too. This is why it helps you sleep better.

Our response to different ambient noises varies from person to person. Like smell and sight, the sound is linked to memory. It has the power to trigger both negative and positive emotions. To experience more relaxing sleep, you should listen to sounds that truly relax you. For some, white noise could be a game-changer, while for others it could be the sound of sea waves. What we mean is it could be different for every individual.

Sleeping shouldn’t be a struggle. If you find it hard to fall asleep, listen to ambient sounds that truly relax your mind. Search for soothing sounds that are right for you. There are plenty of apps that offer nature sounds. You can download some of these soothing noises from the internet.