Listening to relaxing sleep music before bed is a great way to put the day to rest and prepare to hit the pillow.
Many people find it hard to sleep because they remain too active close to bedtime, and subsequently find they can't slow the mind down and properly relax when they try to fall asleep.
This is because there needs to be a period of complete relaxation – away from the computer especially – before sleep, and anything work related should be left well alone at least 2-hours before going to bed.
The reason for this is that the brain is easily stimulated, and computer devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets inhibit melatonin production, which is the hormone the body produces when preparing for sleep.
Turning off electronic devices, winding down intense conversation and creating a stress-free atmosphere in your home is wholly conducive to a good night's sleep. And one way to induce a relaxed state is to put on some relaxing sleep music in headphones and set about your bedtime preparation routine.
By putting on headphones you turn your mind inwards, away from external distraction, and allow your mind to become consumed by the peaceful, relaxing sounds.
While listening you might choose to wash up some dishes, gently tidy the living room a bit and engage in some other light activities that bring the day to a close and signal to your mind that it's time to sleep.
Choosing Your Relaxing Sleep Music
When choosing good sleep music there are a few properties you should consider:
1. Continuous -15 mins+: The last thing you want are short tracks that top and start all the time, disturbing your mental spaciousness and prompting you to flick through tracks, as you would with a standard album. This defeats the object of zoning into and getting lost in one piece of music.
Find a long piece of music, one that preferably lasts longer than 15 minutes. Ideally, put this on a loop so that you don't have to fiddle about with restarting it.
2. No lyrics: Words are thought provoking and mind stimulating. If you are a person who suffers from an overactive mind, then you won't want to spark unnecessary thought trails that will spin around in your mind as you try to sleep.
Choose instrumental music with dreamy, soft, tranquil sounds. Nature sounds like rain, the sea and forest ambience are perfect for settling the mind.
3. Calm and hypnotic: The last thing you want is music that is constantly changing. Abrupt changes in tempo or instrumentation will annoy you rather than relax you.
Choose calm, consistent music that comprises a hypnotic soundscape capable of leading you towards deep relaxation, and ultimately, sleep.
4. Sleep inducing: While there are thousands of relaxing musical compositions available to buy, the average piece of relaxing music doesn't actually induce a sleep state, except binaural beats sleep music, which uses a special frequency track underneath the soundscape to stimulate delta waves in the brain. Delta waves are associated with the deepest stages of sleep.
You can also use Theta wave recordings for deep relaxation before bedtime. These recordings are ideal for people who have trouble falling asleep quickly and staying asleep for long periods of time.
If you're looking for relaxing sleep music then try our Blissful Sleep meditation. Not only does it help you fall quickly into the relaxation zone, it promotes faster, deeper, longer sleep.
This 30-minute recording features natural rain ambience over a hypnotic delta binaural beats track. Simply pop on some headphones and let the music do the rest. Alternatively we have a number of other meditations that promote deep relaxation.
