What You Need to Know About Falling Asleep While Listening to Music

When it comes to falling asleep while listening to music, there are opinions that span the entire spectrum of belief.

While some argue that falling asleep while listening to music can help you fall asleep faster, others suggest that it interferes with certain vital stages of sleep.

Our opinion, though, is that (just as it is with anything else), the answer lies with the affected individual and the type of music that is being played.  If you’re determined to listen to music as part of your bedtime routine, be sure to give your playlist careful consideration.

Choose a beat that is soothing, rather than exciting

This seems pretty straightforward, but it’s important to understand that upbeat music may hinder your ability to sleep, rather than help it. If you are going to listen to music as you’re falling asleep, choose songs that have a calming effect and are melodic in nature.

It has been suggested that the best songs for sleep have 60 beats per minute (BPM) or less.  There are many resources for determining a song’s beats per minute, including websites such as www.SongBPM.com and www.BeatsPerMinuteOnline.com.

Of course, if you prefer to do it the “old fashioned” way, you can simply count the number of beats you hear in 60 seconds of listening to each song.

Save the catchy song lyrics for your daytime activities

Whether or not you realize it, listening to your favorite lyrics is extremely distracting, especially when you’re trying to fall asleep. For this reason, experts suggest that the best songs for helping a person fall asleep are those that are entirely instrumental.

In fact, the benefits of listening to instrumental music do not stop with improved rest and relaxation. This has been the topic of extensive research, and it is most often referred to as the “Mozart Effect”.

Carefully evaluate any emotional associations that you may have with the music you are playing

Sometimes, the emotional attachment that our mind has formed with a particular song is entirely subconscious, but there is little dispute that these types of connection do, in fact, exist.  There is even an entire branch of music psychology dedicated solely to the study of music and emotion.

Studies have shown that music can (and most often does) produce an emotional response in its listener, which may depend on a number of factors, including the song’s composition and the listener’s personal experience.

If you know that you have a particular memory (regardless of whether that memory is good or bad in nature) that has been associated with any given song, you may want to skip that song altogether when creating your bedtime playlist.

In general, the answer to whether or not music is the right choice for your bedtime routine depends on your own way of processing external stimuli.

The one factor that remains constant, however, is that the songs that you choose for your night time routine must have a soothing tempo, be free of any distracting lyrics, and must not have been previously associated with any memories that may end up keeping you awake.