The best songs for sleep generally feature slow tempos (60–80 BPM), minimal lyrics, and calming melodies to lower heart rate and reduce stress. According to research (who can stay awake during this research??), the top songs to fall asleep to are:
- Weightless by Marconi Union
- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi
- Strawberry Swingby Coldplay
Is that something an artist strives for? "Here's a little number that will put you to sleep." ;-)
For years, I have listened to podcasts to fall asleep. That's about all my old iPad Mini was good for, but it served me well for a bunch of years. Since getting the new iPad Mini and learning how to best download podcasts for sleeping, I have run into some snags. The 100+ scooter related podcasts I listened to (over and over) are no longer available. I have been searching for podcasts that are a topic I find interesting, but not so interesting that I want to lay awake listening to them.
I have two ways of keeping those audios to where I am the only one who hears them: a headband with flat speakers in it, made by a company called Acoustic Sheep... getting it? Counting "sheep."
There are issues of sorts with each. I've had a least a half dozen of the Acoustic Sheep headband setups over the years. The first ones were corded, so I would tend to wrap that cord around some body part as I tossed during the evening. When they came out with the wireless versions, it was a definite upgrade. I've had a couple of those that lasted less than a year because the wiring inside (between the controller and the speakers) broke. Plus, that headband can be warm. That was the reason I popped for the SoundCore A20 Sleep earbuds. For some reason, with the new iPad Mini, the A20s are not lasting through the night.
So, I am messing with each of these "sleep aids." 'Cause I'd like to get a full good night's sleep.
This sleeping with some sound started a long time ago. When I was a kid and had a hand-me-down transistor radio. By the time I was about 8, another hand-me-down: a clock radio... it would pull in stations from further away (WLS in Chicago, KOMA in Oklahoma City, WHO in Des Moines, KAAY in Little Rock). And, a really cook feature: a little knob you'd twist - it was a timer, giving you about an hour of listening before it would turn the radio off. Great for a kid already awake past his bedtime.
When I was 11, I got a hand-me-down TV from my Aunt Bessie: a black and white beast in a wood cabinet that would only get one channel: KTIV, the NBC affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa. I would watch the Tonight Show every night in bed and the Today Show in the morning before heading to school.
I still watch TV in bed, but when the timer goes off on that, I listen to podcasts. Through earbuds or tiny flat speakers that don't keep my darling wife awake. Even though it wakes me up when the headband cuts into my ear... or the earbud stops playing a podcast and starts up what it thinks is "relaxing" music (it isn't)... that sounds like a dirge.
I'm working on it.
2 comments:
My iPhone sits in a charger on the headboard every night. I usually put on Hawaiian slack-key instrumentals at a low level. They are so relaxing that I have actually dozed off while playing them. I cannot listen to slack key while driving. The TV in the bedroom has a timer feature. If something catches my interest it can easily be set to go off after I'm asleep. I will often close my eyes and listen.
Of course the biggest impediment to sleeping is Lucy. She walks across me multiple times each night, often meowing. She loves to lay on my chest, pinning me down. It can be hard to sleep through all that.
I can't do music when I'm trying to sleep these days - regardless of the genre, I find myself getting into the groove. Joan likes quiet when falling asleep, I prefer some background sounds - thus the reason for earbuds or the headband with flat speakers.
We have been fortunate for the most part with cats walking on us during the night. Murphy will occasionally make one pass over me when it is time to get up. I miss what Rufus and I had: his morning routine was to come "spoon" with me. Stella is still figuring out her bedtime routine - I generally see her come out from under the bed when I get up. I would welcome a kitty on my chest to start the day. More on this nighttime cat routine on the next post.
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