Music and Sleep
Going to sleep is an essential activity that all of us do, and some even enjoy! The average person spends about 1/3rd of his/her life asleep. While sleeping is a nice way to recharge and get back to the daily activities of life, some have trouble falling asleep at night. 27 percent of people in a Consumer Reports survey said that they had trouble falling or staying asleep on most nights. An even more surprising statistic is that 68 percent of Americans struggled with sleep at least once a week. This results in about $41 billion to be spent on sleep aids and remedies. This could be due to anxiety, the daily stressors of work/school, and maybe even a medical condition called insomnia. Additionally, age was found to be a factor as well. Older people tend to have more difficulty falling asleep at night as well (Neubauer, 1999). Instead of using expensive sleep aids, what if I were to tell you that a free and completely natural method can help you fall asleep easier at night?
Music. Yes, music is the answer to your problems. A study shows promising results where the use of music 45 minutes before bed time yielded significantly better sleep quality (Good, 2006). The study involved participants between the ages of 60–83 years who had difficulty in sleeping. These participants chose their choice of soothing music and saw improvements on a weekly basis. These improvements included longer duration of sleep, less sleep disturbance, and better perceived sleep quality (Good, 2006). So, if you are an elder person finding difficulty sleeping, it seems that listening to your choice of soothing music before bed time is worth a shot. It is, afterall, a way to relax yourself and decompress for a better sleep. But, what if you are not an elderly person? What if you are a student? A better question instead is: What if you are a college student? This is more of an interest because college students face a plethora of issues including isolation, depression, homesickness, and even loneliness.
Lucky for you, because a similar study was conducted where music statistically significantly improved sleep in participants between the ages of 19–28 years old (Bódizs, 2008). However, the type of music you listen to can also make a difference. Both studies used either classical music or sedative music for the groups that saw improvement in sleep. So maybe your new favorite rap song may not be the best music to listen to before going to sleep. Ideally, you are going to want to listen to a song that calms you down instead of making you more excited and awake. But why does music help aid sleep?
A study addressed this by asking people why music helps them fall asleep. The most common responses were that music helped participants physically and mentally relax while also destressing from the day (Durrant et al., 2018). This would make sense because being in a calm state of mind does improve sleep. Physical relaxation can also help with sleeping. So, it seems that soothing music can be a way to unwind from the day and help you improve your sleep.
This chart sums up what the researchers had found. Sleep was rated on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and was evaluated for three weeks. On this scale, the higher the score is the worse the quality of sleep is. As we can see, the music group for this study had their PSQI score drop by nearly four points, meaning that the music group’s sleep had improved quite a bit. This was much more effective than the group listening to audiobooks and the control group. This provides us with evidence that music can really aid in your sleep quality in a positive way. It may be worth a try, after all, it is free.
If you want to learn more about how music affects your brain in other cool ways, check out the video below!
Sources:
Durrant, S., Mu¨llensiefen, D., Trahan, T., Williamson, V. J. (2018). The music that helps people sleep and the reasons they believe it works: A mixed methods analysis of online reports. PLOS one. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206531
Good, M. (2006, January 10). Music improves sleep quality in older adults. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.03693.x?casa_token=TrP4jFwzY5oAAAAA:z4H5BxMDOnWaIVTqumSewU0dARGNVjLYegxOHOO3kLt6ePgOWaDx2eoyOVS01TEa68vYomIVGjQwYGcp
Harmat, L., Takács, J., & Bódizs, R. (2008, April 18). Music improves sleep quality in students. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2008.04602.x?casa_token=CymIrrmVxdEAAAAA:r1my7EdaZd6zYThafZvMyHffjik8i0tbFDBgmD8WK4qx3TfSNSXpERHkvR5_RSCkr5rbsFJx-pbVOWmp
Neubauer, D. N. (1999, May 1). Sleep Problems in the Elderly. Retrieved from https://www.aafp.org/afp/1999/0501/p2551.html?affiliate_source=7
