How to Block Sleep-Disturbing Noises

Unwelcome noises, from a partner’s snoring to traffic on a nearby highway, can ruin sleep. The brain can perceive them as threats even while asleep and turn on your fight-or-flight response. Blood pressure, breathing and heart rates rise. Even if you don’t awaken, your sleep is disturbed and you can suffer the next day. If closing a window isn’t enough to block sleep-disturbing noises from your bedroom, try these steps below.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Room fan
• White noise machine
• Sound-conditioning machine
• Music

1. Turn on “white noise,” the kind of background sound that includes a broad range of frequencies and is audible without being discordant. A room fan produces excellent white noise. You can also tune an FM radio to a blank channel for the right effect.
2. Purchase a dedicated white-noise machine. They come in single or dual speeds and produce a noise like rushing air. Expect to pay about $50 online or at a sleep specialty store.
3. Buy a “sound-conditioning machine” that produces steady, soothing sounds that resemble rain, wind, surf and heartbeats. One even sounds like a night in the jungle. Most cost around $100.
4. Play soft music. Soft New Age music is probably the best sleep inducer. If you prefer classical music, choose something calm. Try Brahms’ Lullaby or Beethoven’s Pathetique.
5. Use earplugs. You can choose between soft wax earplugs that you roll into a ball before inserting, or spongy cylinders.
6. Concentrate on accepting the disturbing noise rather than resisting it, when no alternative is unavailable. Letting it upset you will increase your stress and sleep disturbance. Pretending it’s a pleasurable background sound may enable you to sleep through it.

Tips & Warnings

• White noise can help babies sleep better, too.
• We’re all individuals. When my daughter was a baby, I tried to lull her to sleep with soft music. It turned out she could only sleep to hard-core Rolling Stones. You have to listen to the needs of your own mind and body.
• Some people actually find the drone of white noise irritating. Sound-conditioning machines that produce repetitive but varying sounds are better for them.
• Using earplugs continually can increase the amount of wax in your ears. Have your ears checked at regular intervals and have any wax removed.