Falling Asleep to Music: 6 Best Kinds

Music is the most powerful art that can impact heavily on our moods. There are banging singles that hype people up, symphonies that help people stay focused during long work hours, and love songs that make people feel romantic. So it really is a no-brainer that there is music that impacts our sleep schedules.

Imagine the nights when you find it difficult to fall asleep or feel too anxious even to close your eyes. It can be a frustrating experience that can leave you feeling unproductive and lifeless for the next day. Now the solution might be as easy as pressing the play button. Music has a long reputation for being impactful and soothing to our minds. This is the reason why we play lullabies to babies as they help them feel calm and sleep faster.

As adults, the effects remain the same so let’s figure out how music impacts your well-being and the 6 best types of music that you can play to fall asleep.

What impacts does music have on well-being?

Music has the power to stir emotions and influence your heart rates and even stress levels. Music can also evoke vivid memories which have an equal impact on the body and mind when it comes to sleeping. The right symphonies and tunes distract minds from their worries, make people feel less anxious, and set the right stage for a restful night of sleep. So music is not really there to create a relaxing vibe, it can go beyond and offer compelling benefits such as -

    • Improve sleep quality -

According to several studies, listening to music that is calming and relaxing can reduce sleep latency at bedtime, which is the time a person takes to fall asleep. It also increases the duration of sleeping, while improving the quality of sleep. The right key is the rhythm and tempo of the music that you are listening to in bed. Slow rhythms can also slow down the heart and breathing rate. This signals to human bodies that it is time to get rest.

    • Increase energy levels -

Soothing, relaxing, and steady melodies increase the time that your body spends in the REM sleep stages and restorative slow-wave. The more time you spend in these stages, the more refreshing your body will feel the next day, as it increases the functionality of human bodies.

    • Reduce insomnia -

The relaxation effects of melodies and music can help make it easier for people with insomnia to fall asleep faster and sleep for a longer period. When insomniac people have less disruptive awakenings, it helps them spend more time in deep sleep that is restorative.

    • Lower stress and anxiety -

Music might also activate the parasympathetic nervous system which has an impact on lowering heart rate, and blood pressure, along with anxiety-arousing hormones like cortisol. Music can also be helpful in providing a positive distraction from the worrying circular thoughts that keep people mentally tired and wired.

What are the best music types that you fall asleep to?

The style, composition, and genre of music that you choose to fall asleep in bed has a crucial role to play in getting you quality sleep. For example, music with slow and steady volume, and slow-building melodies can be more favorable to fall asleep to rather than music with high volume or sudden volume changes.

So here are the 6 best music styles that you can peacefully fall asleep to -

    1. Instrumental -

While falling asleep, one of the best kinds of music that helps to calm you down is instrumental music. This type of music without any lyrics can be very soothing and make you relax faster. Instrumental music pieces include an acoustic guitar's soft strumming or a soft piano piece. Emotional, and peaceful pieces without lyrics align the elements of the composition like the rhythms, tempo, and melody to patterns that signal human brains for sleep.

    2. Classical -

Classical music is known for its steady tempo and a natural flow of musical elements that closely mimic the restful sleep patterns of humans. Research says that familiar pieces of orchestral music have little ability to engage with people's brains to distract them from circular thoughts. In various studies, Mozart's Piano Concerto No.2 and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata have been found to induce sleep successfully.

    3. Chill-out -

Chill-out music is known as the loosely defined kinds of music that contain popular musical pieces that are categorized by slow rhythmic tempos. So just as the name suggests, this is a type of music that is designed to help people feel relaxed. This type of music playlist often features songs with soft melodies, slow tempos, and soothing beats that can ease your mind to help you fall asleep faster. You can use genres like trip-hop or downtempo in this chill-out category to get quality sleep. For a more relaxed ambiance, you can try Lofi songs and even soft jazz music. In jazz, you will find styles like cool jazz, modal jazz, and soft jazz to be the perfect companion for falling asleep. However, as lyrics can be stimulating and make you feel overwhelmed instead, you can opt for jazz instrumental pieces.

    4. Ambient -

This is the type of music that is categorized by its textured and atmospheric music creating a sense and space of calmness and relaxation. This can help in quieting the human mind, signaling it to get itself prepared for sleep.

    5. New-age -

New age music refers to a kind of music that intends to create optimism, inspiration, and relaxation in artists. This type of music is also used in meditation, yoga, reading, and even in massaging so it has the ability to set the stage for a good night’s sleep as well. New age music is calming, and mostly instrumental which often includes sounds of rainfall, ocean waves, and bird sounds.

    6. Meditation -

Meditation music is a kind of music that is often used in practicing mindfulness. So it can also be an excellent tool that guides you into relaxing and sleeping. This genre of music mostly features slow, long, and repetitive melodies that are designed to help human minds relax and focus. So although it was primarily used for religious practices, you can access it on digital platforms and use it to get a restful sleep.

Some of the best practices for using music for sleeping:

    • While listening to music and trying to fall asleep, do not use earbuds as they can be uncomfortable when you rest your head on the pillow, distracting you from listening to the melodies and being able to relax. 

    • If you have trouble sleeping through the night, choose a playlist that does not last longer than 90 minutes. This will help you avoid waking up to music at 3 am. 

    • While listening to music on your phone, make sure your other notifications are on silent as you don’t want to be getting an email alert in the middle of a soft, relaxed composition. 

    • If you plan on sleeping at a particular time, it is best to start playing slow and soft melodies at least 30-45 minutes before that time. This gives the melodies time to work their magic on your brain.

You can either choose a playlist or create your own to make music with your sleeping partner every night. Give priorities to slow and relaxed tempos and instrumental pieces if you want better sleep.