Just like a bedtime story
Every night, millions of Canadians struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep.
For children, it’s a bit easier to overcome this obstacle if a family member can read them a bedtime story, which helps one relax and fall asleep. Adult alternatives to a child’s nightly fairy tale are sleep sound apps and white noise machines.
Getting the recommended seven to eight hours a night can be a challenge for many, especially during stressful times at school. However, the benefits of a full night’s sleep are numerous.
Sleep can improve your immune system so you’re less likely to catch a cold. It can also reduce inflammation and stress, lengthen your lifespan, and even contribute to weight loss by effectively lowering your appetite.
Many adults are disturbed by everyday noises such as the honk of a car or the slamming of a door. Thankfully, there is a fairly common way to block out these sounds: white noise machines. These machines produce sounds that are seemingly random, like wind rushing through the trees or water in a stream, but create a consistent sound environment for a more restful sleep. If used regularly, these sounds can even become a sleep cue and make you feel ready for bed when you hear them.
Many parenting books recommend using white noise in order to set up a consistent sleep schedule for children; a few hospitals even use it to cut out the sounds of machinery in the ICU.
For convenience, there are now dozens of apps that mix soothing noises and white noise to help listeners relax and fall asleep.
Most notably, the app Sleep Sounds is rising in popularity and has been downloaded by six million people. The gentle sounds of falling rain or a winter cottage can last 20 to 30 minutes and turn off automatically in order to conserve battery power.
By far, the weirdest sleep trend picking up speed recently is the YouTube phenomenon of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR).It’s comprised of individuals whispering into the microphone and making different everyday sounds that aim to help listeners fall asleep. The sounds that you’re most likely to come across include tapping, putting lotion on, popping bubble wrap, and any number of things that you hear every day.
There are even role-play editions where YouTubers create an environment with certain sounds so the viewers feel like they are at the doctor’s office, the dentist, or even getting a haircut.
Viewers say that these sounds cause a pleasant tingling feeling at the back of the head and down the spine, which then helps them unwind and get ready for bed.
While there hasn’t been much research into the benefits or disadvantages of ASMR, if it helps you fall asleep the benefits of a well-rested mind are reason enough to use them.
Of course, some people don’t need any help passing out at the end of the day, but if you’re one of those people who is distracted by outside noises, or simply can’t seem to shut your mind off, you might want to try out your equivalent of an adult bedtime story, whatever it may be.
Photo courtesy of Skeeze CC0 Public Domain.