Soothing Sounds: the right music to fall asleep to

Music to fall asleep to: just for children?

Music to fall asleep to is not only suitable for babies and toddlers. The calming and relaxing effect unfolds are for babies, children - and adults. Gentle music serves to find calmer to sleep. Especially, if you suffer from sleep disorders, music can be a great help. Maybe you know the following situation: after a long and stressful day at work, you lay down in bed, tired, but cannot sleep because the thoughts keep circling in your head. Tossing and turning, you just cannot find rest. As a result, you cannot concentrate properly the following day and you are less motivated. If this becomes a permanent situation, the lack of sleep can even start to affect your health.

Music to fall asleep to might be one way to save you from sleep disorders and contribute to healthy sleep. By concentrating on the calm sounds, we can forget about the day and immerse ourselves in our own world. Exhausting meetings, upcoming presentations and co. soon fade into the background and the time until falling asleep seems much shorter.

How does music for falling asleep work?

When you listen to calming music, you can also experience several positive effects. Quiet music that helps you fall asleep, or meditation music reduces your blood pressure and slows down your pulse as well as your breathing. Parts of your nervous system have a subconscious effect on your whole body and calm you down. This is how you reach the first stage of sleep, between wakefulness and sleep. You already distance yourself a little from your surroundings, but you still perceive certain stimuli in your environment. It is not the sounds themselves and the volume that are important, but rather the quality of the sounds. That is why it is important to choose the right sounds or music to fall asleep to.

Which music is suitable for falling asleep?

Music to fall asleep to should help us to relax and drift off. Therefore, it is recommended to use rather calm, soothing songs. Heavy metal or hip-hop are less suitable as music to fall asleep to 😉 Sounds like the ocean, raindrops in the rainforest or animal noises are also very popular as relaxation sounds.

If you like to escape into your own world, you can also listen to audio books or podcasts if the speaker has a soothing speaking voice. Meditative sounds, classical music or soft pop songs can also be helpful to free yourself from stressful thoughts and slowly calm you down.

A study showed that when choosing music to fall asleep to, the participants mainly chose classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach or Mozart, as well as romantic songs by Ed Sheeran and Coldplay. However, a few also chose to fall asleep to rock music. As you can see, there are no limits to your choice of music as long as it seems relaxing to you and doesn’t keep you from falling asleep!

Meditative sounds as music to fall asleep to

"How can you even fall asleep to music?" – this thought might occur to those of you who can only fall asleep in complete silence. If songs with vocals keep you on your toes rather than help you switch off, perhaps soothing sounds are the better alternative for you. Soothing sounds use frequencies similar to those that occur in our brain during sleep and are often used for meditation. By the way, many soothing sounds belong in the synthesizer category.

The Psychological Institute of Cologne University examined during a study the effects of these sounds on 170 people who suffered from sleep disorders according to their own information. To avoid a placebo effect, the participants were told that the scientists had serious doubts about this method. After six weeks of “listening” to these sounds throughout the night, every second participant reported that their sleep quality had improved. For 73 percent, the sleep duration even increased by 26 minutes.

Where can I find music to fall asleep to?

If you want to listen to music to fall asleep, the only question that remains is where best to find the right songs. The answer is simple: on  YouTube, for example, you can search "soothing sounds for sleep" and you will find many videos - some even eight hours long – which can help you drift off to a peaceful sleep. Some podcasts offer relaxing sounds as well. Apps, such as Spotify, or music platforms, such as Amazon Music or Apple Music, also offer numerous playlists with suitable music to fall asleep to. 

Of course, you can also create your own personal mix of your favourite lullabies from various playlists. Just browse through Spotify and other platforms and you are sure to find something to help you relax!

Give it a try - the best thing that can happen: You will fall asleep faster and wake up refreshed.