How Sound Affects Your Sleep Cycle

Many Americans sleep in noisy environments. Urban dwellers are accustomed to hearing sirens and traffic sounds throughout the night, and many others leave the radio and television on to help them fall asleep. However, sleeping with noise may negatively impact your health.

So if you're one of the 60 percent of American sleeps that experience sleep problems every night, you may want to adjust your environment. Below, we're going to discuss how sleeping with noise affects your health and what you can do to fix it. 

How Sleeping With Sound Affects Your Sleep Health

Many people feel that they need the TV on to fall asleep, though, in fact, it's probably hindering your sleep quality. While you're sleeping, you go through several different stages of sleep. To complete a full cycle, it takes approSTatgximately 90 to 110 minutes.

However, if there is sound in your environment, your brain is still processing these sounds. Therefore, even if you don't wake up, these sounds may cause you to revert back to a lower stage in the sleep cycle (i.e. if you're in stage 4, you might slip back to a lighter sleep of stage 3).

Therefore, your body is never able to fully complete the sleep cycle. You'll wake up feeling tired. Sleep and sound are also connected to high blood pressure and even heart rate problems.

Another reason why a TV is particularly problematic is that scientists have shown that our brains aren't wired to wake up for sounds above a certain decibel. Have you ever noticed that you may be able to sleep peacefully through say, a thunderstorm, but you jolt awake at the soft sound of your baby crying?

We are actually wired to awake more easily for sounds that are emotionscienally charged. Therefore, even if you leave the TV on at a low volume,  your brain may be processing more emotionally charged sounds which can break your sleep cycle or even cause you to wake up.

White noise machines or smartapps on a phone can be effective in masking sounds that may interrupt sleep.

Sleeping with White Noise

As a sleep aid, many people use white noise. White noise is a steady drone that helps reduce "peak" noises (i.e. a siren, a car honking, etc.). Many people find that white noise is a great tool to help them fall asleep at night and one study found that 80 percent of newborns were able to fall asleep after listening to white noise for just 5 minutes. White noise sleep sounds include air purifiers, fans, and other consistent drones.

As white noise isn't emotionally charged and has no peaks, it won't interrupt your sleep cycle.

How to Minimize Noise While You Sleep

If you live in an urban environment or have a partner that prefers to sleep with noise, getting a good night's sleep may be more difficult. First, try sleeping with earplugs. This is a great way to reduce the peak noises of an urban environment or a noisy apartment building. If your partner prefers noise, try educating them on the impact of how noise affects your sleep and show them how it can negatively impact your health. You may also want to try using a  white noise machine, such as a fan or an air purifier.