You may consider listening to music when you are feeling either ecstatic or sad, but have you considered listening to music when you’re ready to drift off to sleep?
Unusual, right?
No, it isn’t. If you’re a music lover like me, you’ll be glad to know that music can help you drift off to sleep quickly. I sometimes wonder if there anything that music cannot do.
How music can help in sleep?
So, how exactly does music help in lulling you to sleep?
It turns out that it all depends on the type of music. You may have heard of different genres of music. Well, add one more to it: ambient instrumental music. You can call it by different names such as ambient music, instrumental music, relaxing music, sleep music, etc., but the purpose is the same, to create a relaxing environment. This relaxing environment is formed when the sound in the background has a repetitive rhythm to it.
Most of the relaxing music has the same repetitive rhythm. If we go into technical details of it, the music which has a rhythm of 60 to 80 beats per minute is what creates relaxing music. This type of music can also be found in classical, instrumental, or folk music. Personally, I find piano music really relaxing and soothing.
Effects of music on the mind and body
This type of relaxing music has the tendency to make someone fall into a trance-like state of mind that eventually helps in drifting off to sleep. This type of music can help in achieving a relaxed state of mind by:
- Lowering fast pacing heart rate
- Calming the nervous system
- Easing muscle tension
- Lowering blood pressure
- Reducing stress and anxiety
- Triggering the glands to release sleep-inducing hormones like oxytocin and serotonin
Such music can help in soothing the busy state of mind regardless of whether you’re trying to sleep or not. All the above phenomenon help in inducing and staying asleep throughout the night and the music helps in achieving just that.
Listening to such music for 45 minutes to 1 hour before going to sleep can make a noticeable difference in improving the mood. You might feel relaxed and there will be no sense of urgency.
The emotional aspect of such music
Apart from the physical relaxation, you feel while listening to soothing music, there is another reason as to why this type of music may help in achieving such a relaxed state of mind. This is because soothing music is predictable, reliable, and gives a sense of security without any surprises of the sudden change in the music rhythm. In such a state, you feel comfortable and drift off to sleep easily.
It can be said that if you’re listening to calming music before bed, you can direct your mind to release stress and anxiety and be relaxed and calm. It is like directing your brain to switch off all the worries that keep you from getting a good night's sleep.
Such music may help in lightening the mood and you can feel all the stress slipping away from you. You will feel as if some pressure is taken off from your shoulders. The reason why such music is considered relaxing and soothing.
Inducing sleep with music
Now that we know so much about sleeping music, you may be wondering how can someone identify good relaxing music. Here are a few things that you may consider while choosing your music for a night of sound sleep:
- Avoid the songs or music that may trigger a mentally stimulating response. While it may seem that there is no harm in listening to the nostalgic songs, it may prevent you from falling asleep as you may go down your memory lane.
- The best way to avoid these nostalgic songs is to go lyric-free. There are several music genres out there that are lyric-free in which you cannot help but just be with the flow of the music.
- Listen to soft music with a rhythm of 60 to 80 beats per minute. It will help in relaxing you much sooner than music with raised rhythm.
- Consistently listening to soft music while sleeping is proven to be strongly effective in improving sleep quality over time.
- Notice how you feel while listening to such music. If you’re feeling anything apart from soothing and relaxing, keep trying new ambient sounds. You can also try listening to different music such as folk, classical, or jazz, whatever works in calming the stress.
Remember, it’s all about how to feel while going to sleep at night.
Apart from various other night rituals that psychologically marks the ending of the day, such as brushing your teeth, making your bed, etc., you can include listening to music in your ritual too. Along with music that provides you emotional cushion while you sleep, Durfi Mattress provides you ultimate physical comfort so you can have a peaceful night of sleep without any worry.