White noise as sleep aid may do more harm than good, say scientists(theguardian.com)
theguardian.com
White noise as sleep aid may do more harm than good, say scientists
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/oct/18/white-noise-as-sleep-aid-may-do-more-harm-than-good-say-scientists
79 comments
[deleted]
> I wonder, can others not hear their pulse through their pillow when in a dead quiet room?
That’s called pulsatile tinnitus. I used to hear silence, then after a jaw injury I started hearing my pulse and eventually ringing.
But no normally you wouldn’t.
That’s called pulsatile tinnitus. I used to hear silence, then after a jaw injury I started hearing my pulse and eventually ringing.
But no normally you wouldn’t.
Thank you, that's good to know. I always thought it was normal and people other than me just got used to the pulse noise.
Huh, I hadn’t realized but apparently some of the causes can be trouble.
If you or anyone reading this any possibility of cardiac issues (high blood pressure, clogged arteries), it would be worth mentioning at your next checkup.
Mine was pretty clearly linked to an injury that eventually caused other tinnitus so I assumed the causes were similar. Note that per the link below pulsatile tinnitus can be quite benign, but is does have some causes worth excluding.
https://www.healthline.com/health/pulsatile-tinnitus
If you or anyone reading this any possibility of cardiac issues (high blood pressure, clogged arteries), it would be worth mentioning at your next checkup.
Mine was pretty clearly linked to an injury that eventually caused other tinnitus so I assumed the causes were similar. Note that per the link below pulsatile tinnitus can be quite benign, but is does have some causes worth excluding.
https://www.healthline.com/health/pulsatile-tinnitus
TIL! My jaw is almost never relaxed, and I clench my teeth together when I sleep. Interesting correlation.
Oh. Take it from me, go see a dentist, and ask them to look for cracks in your teeth, and receding gums. If they do a panorex x ray they can also look for bone growth in your jaw.
I clench, didn’t know about it for years and so didn’t have a mouth guard. Have a bunch of cracks in my molars now. My dentist always used to say these sort of cracks were the biggest problem in adult dentistry.
The solution is to get a mouth guard. Bottom guard type seems preferable. This will prevent future cracks, protect your gums, and protect the jaw joint. Unfortunately it doesn’t solve the problem, but no one seems to have figured that out yet.
You can also use a Sleepguard device to measure clenching activity. A bit clunky, but it has been very useful for me in figuring out triggers for worse clenching and confirming I do it.
My clenching started after that same jaw injury, I think. Or wisdom teeth extraction.
Someone else recommended off the shelf guards. I would suggest a custom splint from a dentist. If the splint is misaligned you can clench unevenly and cause jaw structure changes.
I clench, didn’t know about it for years and so didn’t have a mouth guard. Have a bunch of cracks in my molars now. My dentist always used to say these sort of cracks were the biggest problem in adult dentistry.
The solution is to get a mouth guard. Bottom guard type seems preferable. This will prevent future cracks, protect your gums, and protect the jaw joint. Unfortunately it doesn’t solve the problem, but no one seems to have figured that out yet.
You can also use a Sleepguard device to measure clenching activity. A bit clunky, but it has been very useful for me in figuring out triggers for worse clenching and confirming I do it.
My clenching started after that same jaw injury, I think. Or wisdom teeth extraction.
Someone else recommended off the shelf guards. I would suggest a custom splint from a dentist. If the splint is misaligned you can clench unevenly and cause jaw structure changes.
Thanks for the advice! I'll ask about this at my next appointment.
Oh and the word for this is Bruxism. Refers to both grinding and clenching. Clenching is often worse as it can stay hidden for a while.
Apparently this is suddenly a bigger issue during the pandemic. I’ll look for that article...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/well/live/dentists-tooth-...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/well/live/dentists-tooth-...
You're supposed to clench your teeth together when you sleep. What's the alternative? Hanging your mouth open?
This company:
https://jsdentallab.com/collections/guards
makes pricey but very effective and comfortable mouthpieces for wearing at night while sleeping and/or during the day. They look exactly like the ones some NFL players use. I love mine. If I'd used one before discovering them three years ago at age 69, I wouldn't now be getting a mouthful of astronomically expensive ($6k apiece for extraction/bone graft/Ti screw placement/tooth) dental implants.
My qualification: retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist
https://jsdentallab.com/collections/guards
makes pricey but very effective and comfortable mouthpieces for wearing at night while sleeping and/or during the day. They look exactly like the ones some NFL players use. I love mine. If I'd used one before discovering them three years ago at age 69, I wouldn't now be getting a mouthful of astronomically expensive ($6k apiece for extraction/bone graft/Ti screw placement/tooth) dental implants.
My qualification: retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist
of course, the easiest way to resolve both issues is to have a timer, or hook it up to one of those body motion sensors. Once the person has gone to sleep, turn off the noise generators, allowing 1) the person to fall asleep, and 2) after the systems have turned off, to allow regeneration without noise.
I never needed the battery backups on my alarm clocks: in a power outage, the box fan would stop, waking me up instantly.
I've thought this for a very long time. Now that we have tiny technology that can check your heart rate and fit around your wrist or inside your ear canal, I'm not quite sure why this isn't a feature. It would be easy to implement but be a huge marketing draw.
I wonder if tinnitus itself also generates metabolites.
> True white noise is the hissy fizzing sound of all the frequencies that humans can hear being fired off randomly and at the same intensity. In recent years, numerous apps and devices have been developed that use it – or other “relaxing” sounds such as the hum of a fan or crashing waves – to help people fall asleep.
The title of the article seems to be inaccurate in that it is discussing other sounds, _not_ “true” white noise, as doing potential harm. Or at least that was the sense I got from the few paragraphs I read before the site locked me out of the article...
The title of the article seems to be inaccurate in that it is discussing other sounds, _not_ “true” white noise, as doing potential harm. Or at least that was the sense I got from the few paragraphs I read before the site locked me out of the article...
Actually the title and the first half of the article is all misleading. Only near the very end does the actual thing the article is claiming become clear, and it’s still subtle. Basically it’s a terribly written article about a use case of white noise that I think is not the typical use case. The article appears to be about using white noise to fall asleep due to ones’ mental state, and not about white noise to cover up other disrupting sounds. It makes no sense to me that someone would cover it from that angle.
Brown noise is much nicer than white, especially if you apply an exponential smoothing to it (there are examples on youtube, look for smoothed brown noise). I attached a speaker to a raspberry pi and use its hardware random number generator to make that sort of noise. It's a pleasant, smooth rumble that I leave on all night. I certainly find it helps a lot (I'm prone to insomnia) and I'd be astonished if it's having any negative physiological effect.
I find the best thing for falling asleep in a noisy room is noise-cancelling headphones. I get very annoyed by the sound of humming fans and the like, and can’t imagine why you’d want to add more noise!
The only downside is that it’s hard to find noise cancelling headphones that are comfortable to wear while sleeping, if you sleep on your side. Big market opportunity here!
The only downside is that it’s hard to find noise cancelling headphones that are comfortable to wear while sleeping, if you sleep on your side. Big market opportunity here!
Not that hard to find:
https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/wellness/noise_masking_s...
https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose/better-sleep-is-...
https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/bose-sleepbuds-2-feature...
https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/wellness/noise_masking_s...
https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose/better-sleep-is-...
https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/bose-sleepbuds-2-feature...
[deleted]
These are not (active) noise cancelling!
Agree not ‘active’ but they are though, as in, cancelling it from your perception. Bose does a lot with the perceptual aspect of audio, which makes me dislike their speakers (the sound is too thin, not moving enough air) but impressed with their noise cancelling until Sony got serious recently.
Sort of into the noise cancelling thing, and a side sleeper, so I agree with you there’s not a great set of options.
I own last 3 generations of Sony full size noise cancelling head phones, Sony’s latest wireless noise cancelling, Apple’s AirPods Pro, two prior generations of Bose QuietComfort, and last two generations each of the in-ear wired noise cancelling earbuds from Bose and Sony. I go try out new models from other manufacturers, and am not finding anything compelling outside of the two well known brands and the AirPods Pro.
The only ones among all these I’ve found useful for sleeping in a bed are the Bose Sleepbuds (v1, I don’t have v2). For the sleepbuds, the reviews go into sleepability:
https://newatlas.com/wearables/bose-sleepbuds-ii/
That said, the most effective I’ve found for sleeping on a plane are the semi-wireless behind neck / in ear headphones from Sony (prior WI1000X/N seem better than newer WI1000XM2 when playing music or white noise) using their foam gel ear inserts. (In fact, for using any of the earbud models on planes, if they don’t have it already, I do replace rubber ear inserts with memory foam type ear inserts.)
But none of the active models work for me for bed because I’m a side sleeper and even then, all night battery without wires is another deal breaker.
Only the Bose Sleepbuds were all-night comfortable, but careful selection from among available sounds turned out to shut out the world to a degree that I stopped using them on travel out of concern I might not hear something that should wake me. In other words, the sound perception dampening was too good.
Sort of into the noise cancelling thing, and a side sleeper, so I agree with you there’s not a great set of options.
I own last 3 generations of Sony full size noise cancelling head phones, Sony’s latest wireless noise cancelling, Apple’s AirPods Pro, two prior generations of Bose QuietComfort, and last two generations each of the in-ear wired noise cancelling earbuds from Bose and Sony. I go try out new models from other manufacturers, and am not finding anything compelling outside of the two well known brands and the AirPods Pro.
The only ones among all these I’ve found useful for sleeping in a bed are the Bose Sleepbuds (v1, I don’t have v2). For the sleepbuds, the reviews go into sleepability:
https://newatlas.com/wearables/bose-sleepbuds-ii/
That said, the most effective I’ve found for sleeping on a plane are the semi-wireless behind neck / in ear headphones from Sony (prior WI1000X/N seem better than newer WI1000XM2 when playing music or white noise) using their foam gel ear inserts. (In fact, for using any of the earbud models on planes, if they don’t have it already, I do replace rubber ear inserts with memory foam type ear inserts.)
But none of the active models work for me for bed because I’m a side sleeper and even then, all night battery without wires is another deal breaker.
Only the Bose Sleepbuds were all-night comfortable, but careful selection from among available sounds turned out to shut out the world to a degree that I stopped using them on travel out of concern I might not hear something that should wake me. In other words, the sound perception dampening was too good.
Perhaps try noise-cancelling speakers instead of headphones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M6G0gsTtmY
https://www.silentium.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M6G0gsTtmY
https://www.silentium.com/
This is a really interesting technology. If it were packaged in an actual consumer-oriented product (and wasn't insanely expensive) I'd definitely give it a try.
One of the main annoying noises I have to deal with is the constant hum/rumble from a ventilation fan on the roof of my building. Seems like exactly the sort of problem that a noise-cancelling speaker could solve.
One of the main annoying noises I have to deal with is the constant hum/rumble from a ventilation fan on the roof of my building. Seems like exactly the sort of problem that a noise-cancelling speaker could solve.
>Headphones designed for sleep
https://dubslabs.com/
https://dubslabs.com/
Yes, there are lots of “sleep headphones” like these. But they are not noise cancelling.
Good point. I'm surprised they don't offer a noise-canceling option.
Because noise cancelling only works on constant noise. So if you use it at sleep time, load sudden noises will seem more alarming.
> “noise cancelling only works on constant noise.”
That’s not true. While it won’t completely cancel sharp, sudden, very loud sounds, it will significant reduce their intensity.
It’s easy to miss someone talking to you, or knocking on your door, for example, when wearing NC headphones.
The Sony headphone software has settings to adjust the intensity of blocking for different kinds of sounds (such as voices, or traffic sounds).
That’s not true. While it won’t completely cancel sharp, sudden, very loud sounds, it will significant reduce their intensity.
It’s easy to miss someone talking to you, or knocking on your door, for example, when wearing NC headphones.
The Sony headphone software has settings to adjust the intensity of blocking for different kinds of sounds (such as voices, or traffic sounds).
haven't tried 'sleep buds' in particular, but had tried a different product ($399!) and... the 'white noise' sound they had had some noticeable ... frequency that my brain locked in to. After about 3 days it was impossible to use them - my brain actively stayed awake with them in, trying to find the sounds it 'knew' were there.
Switched to bose QC20 and... they're generally great ... except... don't sleep in them! They'll break. Often. I've switched to cheap earbuds from the dollar store tied to a white noise app. The $5 earbuds may break every 1-3 months, I just get more.
The 'sleep buds' look nice, but would be hard to justify another ~$300 at this point.
Switched to bose QC20 and... they're generally great ... except... don't sleep in them! They'll break. Often. I've switched to cheap earbuds from the dollar store tied to a white noise app. The $5 earbuds may break every 1-3 months, I just get more.
The 'sleep buds' look nice, but would be hard to justify another ~$300 at this point.
I've had Sony WH-1000XM3's for the past year and I sleep with them all the time. I probably roll over and crush them pretty regularly, but they seem very robust. They're very comfortable to wear for long periods (if you don't roll over on to your side, that is). Excellent noise cancellation too.
I did have older/cheaper Sony ANC headphones previously which broke at the hinges, but these seem unbreakable (touch wood).
I did have older/cheaper Sony ANC headphones previously which broke at the hinges, but these seem unbreakable (touch wood).
wow - glad that works for you! I love my Bose, but can't sleep in them. The ear piece inevitably 'cracks'; just a hairline crack turns the ANC in to an ear-piercing squeal. :/
I use a machine built just for this purpose. It’s a fan that stays on until morning. I cannot have a restful sleep without it - if someone in the house coughs or a slightly louder car drives by, ill be awake. Then I’ll spend part of the night worrying about things like a financial result at work or whether or not I locked the basement door.
> Then I’ll spend part of the night worrying about things like a financial result at work or whether or not I locked the basement door.
May I gently suggest that it sounds like you're papering over the real problem?
May I gently suggest that it sounds like you're papering over the real problem?
Agreed, this person needs a smart lock on their basement door so they can monitor its status at any time.
This is my solution too--bonus the fan covers up the sound of my Labrador retrievers licking themselves in the middle of the night (which wakes me out of a dead sleep every time).
My wife can’t sleep without a fan running. This has been a point of contention since early into ours relationship, as I still after 7+ years find I have much more restful sleep with it off.
Had the same problem. Bought a radio which runs all night not connected to any channel. Got used to it myself. She sleeps fine, winter or summer.
I have a tinnitus, so I have a fan running in every room of my apartment to (partially) cover it with a white noise. I live alone right now but I wonder how many women, if they were to live with me (in a relationship), would be ok with it.
BTW the biggest win in getting a good sleep for me has been making sure my bedroom is properly ventilated, so that I have low levels of CO2. Since I started doing that, my sleeping issues have been reduced to practically nothing - i.e. I almost never wake up feeling drowsy, which was something that happened to me a couple days a month before I started monitoring CO2.
BTW the biggest win in getting a good sleep for me has been making sure my bedroom is properly ventilated, so that I have low levels of CO2. Since I started doing that, my sleeping issues have been reduced to practically nothing - i.e. I almost never wake up feeling drowsy, which was something that happened to me a couple days a month before I started monitoring CO2.
I’ve never heard about CO2 contributing to sleep issues. What did you do to diagnose and remediate this?
It’s an emerging field of research. A bunch of studies have found cognitive effects of CO2 rising above 800 ppm or so. This study looked at the effect on sleep.
It’s still all a preliminary field however.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ina.12254
It’s still all a preliminary field however.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ina.12254
Oh, I’m not OP but I forgot to add that the standard remediations are pretty simple: airflow.
Open a door and open a window. Pretty much nothing else does it, though an air exchanger in a home ventilation system can help.
This of course can get complicated by light (the door), sound (door and window), pollution (window) and heat/cold (window). So your local setup may vary.
In my own case the big challenge is winter. But usually just a small crack is enough to lower co2 a fair bit during the cold season.
Open a door and open a window. Pretty much nothing else does it, though an air exchanger in a home ventilation system can help.
This of course can get complicated by light (the door), sound (door and window), pollution (window) and heat/cold (window). So your local setup may vary.
In my own case the big challenge is winter. But usually just a small crack is enough to lower co2 a fair bit during the cold season.
> In my own case the big challenge is winter. But usually just a small crack is enough to lower co2 a fair bit during the cold season.
Yep - I open a window in another room of my apartment, and the brownian motion air exchange (as both rooms have no doors) is enough to keep CO2 at around 600 ppm through the night. Without it, it'd probably shoot to over 2000 ppm over the night.
Yep - I open a window in another room of my apartment, and the brownian motion air exchange (as both rooms have no doors) is enough to keep CO2 at around 600 ppm through the night. Without it, it'd probably shoot to over 2000 ppm over the night.
Interesting, I might try this.
As someone with seasonal allergies, I've often been surprised at how serenely I'd sleep with a window open.
As someone with seasonal allergies, I've often been surprised at how serenely I'd sleep with a window open.
I live in an old house with roommates that aren't on the same work / life schedule. They're considerate but moving around on old floors with thin walls makes noise. Keeping a box fan on when I go to sleep and leaving it on all night means that I can tune out the noise of them being normal humans before I fall asleep and when they wake up earlier than me.
Are there any solutions that can account for noise on a varied schedule?
Are there any solutions that can account for noise on a varied schedule?
For those who don't find it compelling enough to get to the end: this extremely vague message brought to you by <some other app that is better than all the rest>.
Based on that comment I was expecting to find an article that was either written by someone from an app company, or that heavily talked about a particular app and its benefits.
Nope. Here's what dingle3 is complaining about. After 8 paragraphs on white noise and its affects on sleep, the last scientist they quotes this in paragraph 8:
> Prof Christian Cajochen, who heads the Centre for Chronobiology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, said: “I think the better [forms of] continuous white noise mask highly intermittent background noise, which is why it is recommended for nightshift workers who often need to sleep during the day in a ‘noisy’ environment. There I can see a benefit, but not when sleeping in a relatively quiet environment. Any acoustic stimulus being continuous or not has the potential to interrupt the sleep process.”
they have one more paragraph, a single sentence long, where that scientist says that he'd rather recommend mindfulness apps that are based on good evidence from research, and names on particular app as an example.
> He added: “I would rather recommend mindfulness apps like Sleepio, since they are based on good evidence coming from research in sleep medicine, particularly cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.”
That's the entire mention of mindfulness apps in the article.
Nope. Here's what dingle3 is complaining about. After 8 paragraphs on white noise and its affects on sleep, the last scientist they quotes this in paragraph 8:
> Prof Christian Cajochen, who heads the Centre for Chronobiology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, said: “I think the better [forms of] continuous white noise mask highly intermittent background noise, which is why it is recommended for nightshift workers who often need to sleep during the day in a ‘noisy’ environment. There I can see a benefit, but not when sleeping in a relatively quiet environment. Any acoustic stimulus being continuous or not has the potential to interrupt the sleep process.”
they have one more paragraph, a single sentence long, where that scientist says that he'd rather recommend mindfulness apps that are based on good evidence from research, and names on particular app as an example.
> He added: “I would rather recommend mindfulness apps like Sleepio, since they are based on good evidence coming from research in sleep medicine, particularly cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.”
That's the entire mention of mindfulness apps in the article.
the entire things reads like someone trying to push an alternative. there is no evidence in one direction or the other, and nothing is really being said with any conviction.
native advertising is real, and subtlety is key sometimes. if this was not sponsored by the app mentioned in the last paragraph, i'd be very surprised.
native advertising is real, and subtlety is key sometimes. if this was not sponsored by the app mentioned in the last paragraph, i'd be very surprised.
Summarizes majority of posts these days. Always someone trying to sell you shit.
The article makes it sound like the alternative to white noise is luxurious, dead silence.
But, especially in the city, the alternative is usually just patches of semi-silence interrupted by loud or sharp things. Dogs barking, a police siren, the neighbor coming home at 3am, your partner flushing the toilet, inexplicable noises that start and then stop before you realize why you're up.
I listen to white noise like a fan because it smooths over those noises. I'd pick dead silence if I could.
But, especially in the city, the alternative is usually just patches of semi-silence interrupted by loud or sharp things. Dogs barking, a police siren, the neighbor coming home at 3am, your partner flushing the toilet, inexplicable noises that start and then stop before you realize why you're up.
I listen to white noise like a fan because it smooths over those noises. I'd pick dead silence if I could.
Have you tried using ear plugs? I've found they work well for me outside of when I need to use an alarm.
Sometimes I feel like an alien when people suggest earplugs for noise problems. Maybe I just process sound very differently.
Earplugs succeed at exactly one task: attenuating dangerous sound levels down to comfortable ones. The don't reduce the amount of information. A 30dB conversation is exactly as distracting as a 60dB conversation. I also have custom fitted IEMs that provide similar attenuation. These are equally useless when disconnected. You still need masking sound. You just need less of it.
In a quiet environment, earplugs amplify the sounds of my own body. I hear my heart beating. I hear fluid sloshing around. I hear very prominent vibrations from anywhere my head is shifting relative to the pillow. I'd have to work pretty hard to design a more unsettling sleep-deprivation apparatus than earplugs.
None of this is remotely as useful as an actually quiet room with a box fan running.
Earplugs succeed at exactly one task: attenuating dangerous sound levels down to comfortable ones. The don't reduce the amount of information. A 30dB conversation is exactly as distracting as a 60dB conversation. I also have custom fitted IEMs that provide similar attenuation. These are equally useless when disconnected. You still need masking sound. You just need less of it.
In a quiet environment, earplugs amplify the sounds of my own body. I hear my heart beating. I hear fluid sloshing around. I hear very prominent vibrations from anywhere my head is shifting relative to the pillow. I'd have to work pretty hard to design a more unsettling sleep-deprivation apparatus than earplugs.
None of this is remotely as useful as an actually quiet room with a box fan running.
Which earplugs did you try and what is their frequency attenuation? If they are designed for musicians, they may attenuate all frequencies equally.
I often sleep with Ohropax foam earplugs. They eliminate the high frequencies like sirens. They reduce the mid-range and low frequencies, too. Conversation becomes muffled quiet mumbling. Noises can transmit through the frame of the frame of the building, my bed frame, my mattress, my pillow, and my head. Luckily, such noises are rare in my building. I'm not distracted by my body's internal sounds.
I tried many many kinds of earplugs. The Ohropax ones work the best for me. I can wear them for 2-3 sleep cycles (3-4.5 hours) before my ears hurt, but only if I insert them far enough into my ears. For smaller ears, Mack's Dreamgirl earplugs are good.
https://www.amazon.com/Ohropax-Soft-Foam-Ear-Plugs/dp/B000V3...
https://www.amazon.com/Macks-Dreamgirl-Soft-Foam-Earplugs/dp...
I often sleep with Ohropax foam earplugs. They eliminate the high frequencies like sirens. They reduce the mid-range and low frequencies, too. Conversation becomes muffled quiet mumbling. Noises can transmit through the frame of the frame of the building, my bed frame, my mattress, my pillow, and my head. Luckily, such noises are rare in my building. I'm not distracted by my body's internal sounds.
I tried many many kinds of earplugs. The Ohropax ones work the best for me. I can wear them for 2-3 sleep cycles (3-4.5 hours) before my ears hurt, but only if I insert them far enough into my ears. For smaller ears, Mack's Dreamgirl earplugs are good.
https://www.amazon.com/Ohropax-Soft-Foam-Ear-Plugs/dp/B000V3...
https://www.amazon.com/Macks-Dreamgirl-Soft-Foam-Earplugs/dp...
>I'm not distracted by my body's internal sounds
You are very lucky.
You are very lucky.
I use the solid sleepplugs from sensaphonics: https://www.sensaphonics.com/collections/plugs-sleeves/produ...
They are molded to my exact ears. I have tried several other ear plugs, and none of them come close to the level of isolation, including normal custom IEM's. Sometimes things are a little too loud (e.g. neighbors that won't quit on 4th of july at 2am), so adding white noise helps smooth things over.
I will say that I can very clearly hear my breathing with these in, as well as my heart beat sometimes. It's sometimes that bothered me for a couple of nights, but now it's quite comforting.
They are molded to my exact ears. I have tried several other ear plugs, and none of them come close to the level of isolation, including normal custom IEM's. Sometimes things are a little too loud (e.g. neighbors that won't quit on 4th of july at 2am), so adding white noise helps smooth things over.
I will say that I can very clearly hear my breathing with these in, as well as my heart beat sometimes. It's sometimes that bothered me for a couple of nights, but now it's quite comforting.
I tried earplugs of several kinds, but they uniformly sucked. They fell out when I would roll onto my side during sleep, and my ears would produce like 3x the normal amount of wax the following morning.
Ears don't like having shit stuffed into them for prolonged periods of time. I've noticed it with headphones, earbuds, earplugs, etc.
Ears don't like having shit stuffed into them for prolonged periods of time. I've noticed it with headphones, earbuds, earplugs, etc.
I live in an apartment building in a quite noisy locale, Manhattan in New York City.
I solved the problem with pliable silicone "putty" earplugs. They provide the closest to dead silence I've found.
The earplugs attenuate sound by 50% is my guess, making inaudible all but the loudest ambulance sirens and shoes dropped to the floor in the unit above.
I solved the problem with pliable silicone "putty" earplugs. They provide the closest to dead silence I've found.
The earplugs attenuate sound by 50% is my guess, making inaudible all but the loudest ambulance sirens and shoes dropped to the floor in the unit above.
I'm not sure where I heard it but I've heard that wearing earplugs for prolonged periods isn't good either. Beyond that, I don't like the feeling (even of the putty ones) after a few hours. My ears start to feel clammy and like I'm building some kind of bacteria dish inside my ear.
Ear plugs have never been enough for me. Also - if it gets too quiet then my tinnitus starts going. Thus, like OP, I use a fan. Bothers my partner but she's gotten used to it. She can't stand the part where I like having it pointed at me too (I'm not very good at regulating body temperature at night without one).
Ear plugs have never been enough for me. Also - if it gets too quiet then my tinnitus starts going. Thus, like OP, I use a fan. Bothers my partner but she's gotten used to it. She can't stand the part where I like having it pointed at me too (I'm not very good at regulating body temperature at night without one).
I've always just thought it was ridiculous that I should have to wear ear plugs to sleep in my own home. Why do people tolerate that? (I know, that's apartment living for you, etc., but not all apartments are that way.)
it is ridiculous. learn to sleep better instead of blaming noise
It is bizarre and insane, but cities seem uninterested in reducing noise pollution from ground transport, machinery, aircraft, sirens and emergency vehicles, etc..
Ear wax can harden or build up and usually it is ideal to leave them to self-clear unless there is a deafening blockage, infection or similar.
I had issues personally just with headphones and work from home subsitution with white noise (unfortunately others of my household are hard of hearing and loud) worked well for me.
I had issues personally just with headphones and work from home subsitution with white noise (unfortunately others of my household are hard of hearing and loud) worked well for me.
I remember when I moved downtown having a hard time sleeping for these reasons. There were some cop cars that would drive around in the early am hours and seemingly play their sirens in beatboxing patterns just for the hell of it. I eventually just became adapted to it and could sleep through any noise after about a year
This article is garbage.
Nowhere in it does it substantiate the claim in the title. The best you get is this speculation from a "scientist" presenting no evidence:
Nowhere in it does it substantiate the claim in the title. The best you get is this speculation from a "scientist" presenting no evidence:
You probably want to have a period where the auditory system can wind down, regenerate and prepare for the next wake period.
The article does link to the review mentioned by the researcher : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101385
We use a fan, it does a pretty good job of covering up the random noises that wake me up, except for low-frequency idling cars (which make the entire house vibrate).
> Despite including thirty-eight articles, a systematic review was opted for over a meta-analysis due to heterogeneity in research methods, including the population of interest, study design, noise characteristics, sleep measurement methodology, sleep outcomes, and statistical analyses, if any. As such, effect size calculations could not be conducted.
Is it normal to not do any kind of statistics? Can you even draw any conclusions by just counting the number or studies as if they were all created equal?
Is it normal to not do any kind of statistics? Can you even draw any conclusions by just counting the number or studies as if they were all created equal?
I was hoping to see something about how this affects babies in there ️
I used Meshuggah - Bleed and a carrying harness to get my then 2 month old to sleep. Close enough to white noise, and motivation for daddy to keep rocking. Not sure I want to read research on whether that was a good idea..
Is this an ad for Sleepio?
This article is garbage.
I was initially concerned as we're building a sleep wearable that uses sound to alter your sleep state. I thought...crap, is there evidence what we are doing is harmful? We're consulting with neurologists, so I would have been surprised, as they have brought up some potential issues we need to test for with what we are doing.
Here's very early evidence of the positive effect our technology is having. This is early evidence of auditory stimulation having positive effect on sleep. https://imgur.com/z4vqS3w This is from my Oura tracker (so we have a 3rd party monitoring) and over 8 nights. Yes, there is potential placebo effect here, and the first 4 nights I slept better than I usually do. We are preparing for a more robust study.
If you're keen to find out more about what we're building, check out https://soundmind.co and sign-up to get on the waitlist.
I'll be writing a blog post of our early findings shortly.
I was initially concerned as we're building a sleep wearable that uses sound to alter your sleep state. I thought...crap, is there evidence what we are doing is harmful? We're consulting with neurologists, so I would have been surprised, as they have brought up some potential issues we need to test for with what we are doing.
Here's very early evidence of the positive effect our technology is having. This is early evidence of auditory stimulation having positive effect on sleep. https://imgur.com/z4vqS3w This is from my Oura tracker (so we have a 3rd party monitoring) and over 8 nights. Yes, there is potential placebo effect here, and the first 4 nights I slept better than I usually do. We are preparing for a more robust study.
If you're keen to find out more about what we're building, check out https://soundmind.co and sign-up to get on the waitlist.
I'll be writing a blog post of our early findings shortly.
Some anecdotal data: I sometimes sleep with a white noise machine (the Dohm from Yogasleep). When I sleep with it, I usually remember my dreams way better (I feel like I had multiple dreams that night compared to almost none usually). I can't really say if I sleep better or not, but it helps me fall asleep quicker if the neighbors are making noise at night.
Something like 30% of people suffer from tinnitus. Falling asleep with a loud ringing is hard, and for those suffering it's not like we get an auditory break anyway.
I wonder, can others not hear their pulse through their pillow when in a dead quiet room? It's very annoying and I have to fall asleep on my back if a room is that quiet.