Not all noises are bad for sleep, in fact, white noise rather aids in sleeping!!!!
Sleep is a necessary component for maintaining a healthy body and mind. Various factors can negatively affect our sleep and can cause difficulty in falling sleep or complete absence of sleep (a condition termed as insomnia). To cope with sleeping disorders, one can ditch the medicines and try the somewhat noisy but effective method: white noise.
Technically speaking, white noise is a combination of different frequencies with similar amplitude. The effectiveness of white noise lies in its ability to block all other noise frequencies and outside sounds. The basic idea can be understood by thinking of white noise as white color or white light, that have the combination of all possible colors, white noise has a balanced combination of every audible frequency in it and hence effectively blocks all other frequencies.
White noise is the ultimate noise of calmness, it’s the type of noise a baby in womb hears. The flow of blood, the rhythmic beat of heart and the flow of air during inhalation and exhalation all provide a great rhythmic white noise.
The effect of external environment on the process of falling sleep and maintenance of a sound and deep sleep is significant. White noise has proved to have positive impact on both stages of sleep, as today, hundred of apps and machines have been developed to create white noise. People all over the world are benefiting from the magic of white noise. The white noise apps and machines have a large range of white noises and have timers that control the duration and volume of white noise.
White noise has particularly done wonders for sleepless parents who have colic or fussy infants and babies, as they magically slept through the night when there is white noise (probably it reminded them of the womb). However, care should be taken while exposing our infants to white noise, as it can be damaging to their hearing. People who love to travel or are bound to travel don’t have to give up their sleep anymore, as while traveling in crowded and noisy places, a simple app of white noise can take them into deep, comfortable sleep.
The commonly used white noises include noise of fan, vacuum cleaners, radio on static, running shower, sound of rain on ground, sound of rain on water etc.
So, next time you have trouble falling asleep, try listening to white noise and leave the counting of sheep for later.