Sleep is essential to our daily health and overall well-being. Lack of a good night’s rest has been linked to less focus, impaired memory, and an increase in accidents due to slowed reaction time. While the true purpose of sleep is still up for debate, growing evidence suggests that sleep gives our brains the time to flush out harmful toxins that are likely the cause of Alzheimer’s Disease later in life. The truth is, we literally need to sleep to survive. When it comes to a sleep schedule, we’re much like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears — too much or too little sleep has been linked to higher overall mortality. What we’re after is a sleep schedule that’s just right.

So how can a white noise machine help us achieve the right amount of sleep at night? Read on for six of the best ways:

1. Builds a Nightly Ritual

Those who suffer from insomnia already know how important sticking to a bedtime routine can be to getting a good night’s sleep. Creating a nightly schedule signals your body that it’s time to get ready for bed and helps your brain wind down. A nighttime routine will look different for everyone, but some ideas include journaling, reading, meditating, drinking a mug of tea, and listening to music. A bedtime routine isn’t only important for adults, either. Babies and children especially require a consistent bedtime and will benefit immensely from simple rituals like a bath and a book beforehand. Not only will a bedtime routine help children to fall asleep faster, but it’s also a great way to bond as a family, as it’s a time of day when everyone will be home. By prioritizing these activities in the evening we can create healthy habits for a happier, well-rested life.

2. Uses Sound as a Signal

Turning on a Yogasleep sound machine is an easy addition to any bedtime routine that may have big benefits for adults and children alike. For adults, making a soothing cup of tea and then switching on a white noise machine before reading in bed is a great way to let our brain know that it’s time to rest. The more we integrate the soothing sounds of a white noise machine into our schedule, the more the body will begin to associate those sounds with sleep. For children, this could look like turning on a sound machine during reading time, creating the perfect atmosphere for a sleepy child.

3. Keeps Our Room Quiet

We’ve all experienced those nights when it feels like the whole world is conspiring to keep us from falling asleep. Whether it’s noisy neighbors, a dog barking, or even a car door closing at the worst possible time, the din of a city street or neighborhood can seem even louder when we’re struggling to get to bed. This is where a noise-canceling machine comes in extra handy. According to the Popular Science article “Why Does White Noise Help People Sleep?”, it isn’t the door slamming closed that wakes us up when we’ve just fallen asleep, but rather the change in sound. Colin Lercher goes on to write that “...white noise creates a masking effect, blocking out those sudden changes that frustrate light sleepers, or people trying to fall asleep.”

White Noise Sleep Benefits

A sound machine generates white noise, which stops those inconsistencies in sound from reaching our ears while we’re asleep and waking us up. White noise, quite literally, is all of the frequencies that an ear can hear, played in no particular order. When a Yogasleep machine plays white noise in our room, it covers up the sounds traveling in from the street outside or even from inside our own house or apartment. This is a big help when it comes to children and babies, who might be sleeping so lightly that any noise at all will wake them up. Yogasleep offers a number of white noise machines for babies and kids to help keep them asleep all night long.

Bring White Noise Everywhere

At home, we might be able to control the noises around us. We can make sure no one is listening to the television too loudly or we can implement quiet hours in our building, but when we travel, we can’t do the same for our new surroundings. This is precisely why a noise-canceling machine is so helpful for those who might travel for work or fun. Once our bodies learn to associate white or pink noise with bedtime, bringing our Yogasleep sound machines with us wherever we go will only help to promote a good night’s sleep. Whether we’re staying in a hotel room, a friend’s spare bedroom, or any scenario other than our own bed, a white noise machine will help us stick to a sleep schedule and fall asleep more soundly. Yogasleep offers a variety of portable machines that are not only easy to stow away in luggage but also come with their own pouches. These travel-friendly white noise machines are also ideal for when we need a way to help the kids or baby fall asleep in the car while on-the-go. We can truly bring them anywhere.

4. Trains Our Brains to Relax

For so many of us, the main contributor to insomnia are anxious, swirling thoughts that keep us up all night staring at the ceiling praying for sleep to finally come. How do we relax when there are a million and one things on our to-do list that we can never seem to get done. Sometimes these anxious thoughts aren’t constant, but surface during particularly troublesome moments in time, for instance when we’re making a big purchase, like a house, or perhaps during a career transition. There are a number of reasons why our brains might have a hard time settling down when it’s time to go to bed. Perhaps just the simple notion that we have to be up in only eight hours is enough. Either way, we need a way to let our thoughts calm down and to relax at the end of the day.

Relaxation Methods

There are many ways to train your brain to calm down before bedtime. As we’ve already mentioned, it’s a great idea to implement a bedtime routine. For some, writing out a to-do list for the next day or journaling can be a good way to get those busy thoughts out of the way before laying down. It’s a good idea to stay off the phone before bedtime, no matter how tempting it might be to check our email just one more time. White noise can also help the brain to relax by giving it a sound to focus on instead of the cacophony of stressful thoughts inside our heads. The faster we’re able to fall asleep, the less chance our brain has to keep us up until three in the morning stressing about the day ahead.

5. Lets Us Sleep Soundly

Those noisy neighbors won’t stand a chance against the Yogasleep sound machine. The white noise generated by a sound machine not only helps us fall asleep but will also ensure that we get a more restful night’s sleep. Many of us might not even realize how often we do wake up throughout the night. How many of us have woken up after a long night’s sleep wondering why we don’t feel as refreshed as we thought we should? If we’re not able to cross from those initial stages of sleep into REM (Rapid-Eye Movement) sleep — the kind of sleep we’re experiencing when we have lucid dreams — then we might not be getting the right kind of sleep after all.

Pink Noise

There are many different “colors” of noise, but the two most important ones when it comes to sleep are white noise and pink noise. Studies have shown that pink noise might be even more beneficial when it comes to sleep, as it helps to calm our brain waves and encourages sleep. Pink noise differs from white in that it lowers high-frequency tones, whereas white noise keeps the same level across all of the frequencies it transmits. For some, white noise might be a bit too much, in which case a sound machine that emits pink noise instead might lead to an even more restful night’s sleep.

6. Allows Us to Stay Asleep

We’ve already discussed how a white noise machine might cocoon the soundscape of our rooms, keeping outside noises from bothering us as we try our best to fall asleep. A sound machine will also help us to stay asleep throughout the night. White noise has been proven to help hospital patients remain asleep, which is impressive considering hospitals are known for being noisy and full of sound.

For Those Who Can’t Stand Silence

There are those of us who need absolute silence to begin the process of falling asleep, while there are others who cannot fall asleep without some kind of noise going. In the summertime, this quiet, whirring sound might be easier to achieve with the help of a fan or air conditioning unit, but once the cold weather hits we need to recreate that familiar low hum that helps to keep us asleep throughout the night. This is where a sound machine comes in very handy. Whether it’s white or pink noise one is after, a Yogasleep sound machine is a great way to create that quiet background sound to help you get the ideal night’s rest.

Around 10%-30% of the population worldwide suffers from insomnia. A Yogasleep sound machine is not only for those suffering through bouts of insomnia but also for anyone looking to get a better, more sound sleep at night. Any one of us who struggles with sleeping in some capacity should consider integrating white noise into our bedtime ritual. Sleeping with white or pink noise in the background has been shown to help us fall asleep faster, lower our anxiety, stay asleep throughout the night, and get a better night's sleep overall.

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