Why Nature Sounds Help You Relax, According To Science

Anyone who sleeps with white noise is likely to tell you they can't fall asleep without it. And when you count up all the apps and white noise machines on the market, it may seem like you've stumbled upon the holy grail of sleeping. If you're having trouble falling asleep, here are 10 podcasts and apps that can help quiet your restless mind through meditation, soothing sounds, and bedtime stories. Participants' reaction times were slower when they listened to artificial sounds compared to natural ones, as well.

Spotify has a sleep timer that turns any playlist or album into a helpful sleep aid. When the sleep and meditation” service Calm launched its app seven years ago, the company was largely focused on the meditation half of its offerings. SimplyNoise offers only white noise, pink noise, and brown noise.

If you don't want to lug a box fan around, an ambient noise app is your next best bet. Drift off with the peaceful and healing sounds of nature in this app. In fact, one 2013 study showed that subjects stayed in deep sleep longer compared to subjects who listened to no noise.

Steven Smith at my university found that recall of memorized words was better 48 hours after learning if the sounds used during word presentation, either music or white noise, were repeated during the recall session. Recently, it started playing music on top of the rain sounds, with a featured track that changes every day.

And their deep sleep waves were not only longer during the pink noise night, but the subjects also recalled almost three times more words during the memory test the next morning than they did after the night without the noise. Whilst not a cure-all, many parents have testified to the calming effect of baby sound machines and how they have helped in achieving sounder sleep for their newborn.

If relaxing rain you need the whir of a fan to fall asleep, you're not alone. Tinnitus • If your tinnitus only occurs when your environment is too quiet, chances are that it will disappear if you keep gently stimulating your hearing with a faint background noise. The human mind reacts positively when it hears the sounds of nature because they arouse emotions that remind our primordial environment.