What is the best way to ensure a good night’s sleep?
Should you ask your doctor for a prescription, buy an herbal remedy, or find out if you can fall asleep with white noise in the background?
Sleep is essential for more than just productivity and wakefulness after the alarm clock rings.
Studies have shown that sleep is an essential ingredient for good health.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends that adults get a minimum of seven hours of sleep every night.
More than a third of Americans are not meeting the minimum hours of sleep.
Not only is sleep important on the job, lack of sleep can also lead to fatal car accidents and multiple other problems.
According to the CDC, sleep deprivation increases the risks for multiple health conditions.
📎 The Fight for a Good Night’s Sleep
📎 What is White Noise and How Can it Help You Sleep?
📎 Pink Noise, the Other Background Noise
📎 More Colorful Noises to Consider
📎Background Noise Apps to Help You Fall to Sleep
📎More Sleeping Choices
The Fight for a Good Night’s Sleep
Imagine yourself the night before a huge project at work is due to begin.
You retire to bed early, leave your phone on the nightstand for a good hour before you close your eyes, and otherwise prepare as much as possible for the best sleep of your life.
You simply need to be on top of your game the next day.
You lay in bed and an hour passes.
You glance at the clock and tell yourself sleep is surely imminent.
Another passes and you toss and turn.
By now you are up and searching the bathroom medicine cabinet for a fast solution.
The only problem is that anything you might take at this late hour will still affect you when the alarm clock rings.
The worst part? This new project will last several weeks to come.
How on earth can you survive with sleep habits like these?
What is the solution?
An over-the-counter sleep aid or a new prescription from your doctor?
Both carry the potential for side effects. What about background noise?
What is White Noise and How Can it Help You Sleep?
According to SleepFoundation.org, white noise is a mixture of low, medium, and high-frequency sound waves that help drown out other noises.
In other words, if ambient sounds prevent a good night’s rest, you might be able to fall to sleep with white noise.
When white noise is created, every frequency audible to the human ear is played at the same amplitude.
Think of the static played between stations on a car radio.
The effect is a noise curtain that blocks out other sounds.
Sleep is only interrupted when the consistency is changed.
Studies have proven the effectiveness of white noise on hospital patients.
The Sleep Foundation reports that the use of a machine that creates white noise shortens the time it takes patients to fall asleep by up to 40 percent.
Pink Noise, the Other Background Noise
Where white noise is steady and constant, pink noise is background noise that varies.
Pink noise decreases as the frequency increases.
Think of the sound of a waterfall, rain falling outside your window, or the hum of an air conditioner.
Some studies have shown that pink noise can affect your brain by reducing waves, lulling you into a more consistent state of sleep.
Pink Noise vs. White Noise
Both types of background noise work to mask other noises that contribute to your insomnia.
While white noise maintains the same intensity, pink noise is more natural to human beings.
Which is better for your sleep habits comes down to a question of preference.
White noise creates a shield around other noises effectively blocking them out from your brain so you can fall asleep without interruption.
For some people, white noise is all they need to block out noise and fall asleep.
Others might find white noise too harsh and prefer more natural background sounds.
White noise may be too harsh for some, given that the intensity remains the same.
Pink noise offers a more natural, less abrasive background that lures you into a deeper sleep.
The sound variations in pink noise may be more soothing to some, and by reducing brain activity may even encourage a longer and deeper sleep.
More Colorful Noises to Consider
In addition to white noise and pink noise, there are a few other colors to consider.
Brown noise can be used to encourage sleep.
Brown noise is similar to pink noise, only a bit harsher.
Where pink noise is like the falling rain, brown noise is more like water rushing from a high-pressure tap.
Black noise might be considered the sound of silence with a few random noises thrown in.
Imagine standing out in the middle of a farmer’s field out in the middle of nowhere with only a few random sounds breaking up the silence.
Blue noise is similar to white noise, only more intense, like the hissing sound of water out of a garden hose.
Background Noise Apps to Help You Fall to Sleep
Thankfully, white noise can be as accessible as your cell phone or other devices.
The following apps can be downloaded:
myNoise – This app is available in a free version and features more than 200 choices including both white noise and pink noise selections.
The White Noise app has three versions, a lite version, a full version, and a pro version with varying levels of sound availability.
It is available in both Apple and Android products. Interestingly, the White Noise app offers multiple color sound choices including white, pink, brown, and blue noises.
Relax Melodies is available for free in both iOS and Android formats.
Relax Melodies offers meditations, white noise, and a variety of other sounds to put you to sleep.
Also free for both iOS and Android users, Atmosphere: Relaxing Sounds features a timer that will turn the sound off and preserve your device’s battery.
With more than 100 sounds available this free app also includes noises meant to help reduce headaches and anxiety.
More Sleeping Choices
In addition to the five applications listed above, numerous background noise products exist that can help you fall asleep.
The average cost for a white noise machine starts around 100 dollars, though more expensive models exist.
More expensive models tend to have more features, but most create an environment in your sleeping space that will help you achieve a restful night.
