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Why does white noise make you fall asleep ?


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What is it about the sound of white noise that sends people off to sleep ?

 

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White noise to me reminds me of a steady, heavy rainfall and rainy weather always makes me sleepy. I have always thought that rainy weather triggered some instinctive thing inside humans to sleep, in days of old people could not be out and do as much when it rained. I know it probably sounds silly but that is my thoughts on it.

 

I was born in the 1970s, being from the southern US when I was growing up a lot of older people used to talk about how well they slept with the old tin roofs when it rained. When people started getting the newer metal roofing and I have visited for a day or two and I have to agree that a nice rain on a metal roof is like a lullaby. :sleepy:

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I always thought that "white noise" was reminiscent of what we heard in the womb? Hence the sleep signal.

(Didn't/can't watch the video)

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I rather like the 'masking' idea.  White noise is by definition a spread of noise across all frequencies, and two things come out of that:

1. It masks out other noises below its level.

2. Because your brain is tuned for a range of particular sounds with particular frequencies that may portend danger, eg scratching noises/thuds of someone trying to break in, the breaking of glass, etc.. the white noise tends to be soothing as it is clearly none of those..

Noise in itself is not the wake up trigger, it's the sudden change in frequencies to something you recognise (you can add snoring from a partner to that mix...) that is the problem - so having a continual un-threatening sound that can mask other less dangerous or annoying noises, is a good thing.

Best to have it turned down a bit though.  You prolly don't want to sleep thru a real break-in..

BTW, I have my own built-in white noise generator - tinnitus in my right ear..

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