Noise can help you fall asleep? Try these white noises to change your perception of noise.

Noise can disrupt our normal study, work, and rest, and even harm our health. However, careful observation reveals that on rainy days, listening to the patter of rain makes us more likely to fall asleep. Furthermore, we also sleep soundly accompanied by the sounds of flowing water, wind, and birdsong; it seems these natural noises have a magical power to promote sleep.

In acoustics, white noise refers to a sound whose frequency components have uniform power across the entire audible range (0-20kHz). White noise is a monotonous, rhythmic sound. Scientists have discovered that the brain resonates with monotonous, rhythmic sounds from the outside world, and this resonance puts the brain in a quiet, relatively inactive state, producing feelings of fatigue and drowsiness, thus promoting sleep.

Ideal white noise does not exist, but natural noise is the closest thing to white noise in the real world. Therefore, natural noises such as the chirping of insects in the forest, the singing of birds in the mountains, and the babbling of streams can help people fall asleep.

Experts say white noise helps with sleep.

■ Playing white noise while falling asleep can increase sleep depth and give us better memory the next day.

Playing white noise while falling asleep can shorten the time it takes for us to fall asleep.

Playing white noise in the bedroom can help isolate other noises and improve our sleep quality.

Explanation of white noise's sleep-inducing function

■ White noise signals can enhance neural synchronization in the brain during sleep through random resonance. During sleep, the high synchronization of neurons is manifested by slow waves, which are the result of the complex interaction of three main types of neural oscillations. Appropriate white noise can promote slow wave oscillations to dominate brainwaves, thereby enhancing neuronal synchronization and promoting sleep.

■ White noise has the effect of masking other sounds, making it difficult to detect other noises. Therefore, playing white noise while falling asleep makes people less likely to be woken up at night and less susceptible to external noise, thus improving sleep.

Music-assisted therapy improves sleep

Sleep is a natural state of rest and an important physiological activity for the human body to adapt to the changing rhythms of day and night. Studies have confirmed that listening to soothing, familiar music before bed can improve sleep quality, help you fall asleep faster, and increase sleep efficiency; while people who frequently listen to fast-paced music or listen to songs on repeat are more prone to the "lingering effect" of music, experiencing more awakenings at night, more light sleep, and poorer sleep quality.

Content source: "The Health Code of Sleep" from the "100,000 Health Whys Series" published by People's Medical Publishing House.