The music that helps people sleep and the reasons they believe it works: A mixed methods analysis of online survey reports

Abstract

Sleep loss is a widespread problem with serious physical and economic consequences. Music can impact upon physical, psychological and emotional states, which may explain anecdotal reports of its success as an everyday sleep aid. However, there is a lack of systematic data on how widely it is used, why people opt for music as a sleep aid, or what music works; hence the underlying drivers to music-sleep effects remain unclear. We investigated music as a sleep aid within the general public via a mixed methods data online survey (n = 651) that scored musicality, sleep habits, and open text responses on what music helps sleep and why. In total, 62% of respondents stated that they used music to help them sleep. They reported fourteen musical genres comprising 545 artists. Linear modelling found stress, age, and music use as significant predictors of sleep quality (PSQI) scores. Regression tree modelling revealed that younger people with higher musical engagement were significantly more likely to use music to aid sleep. Thematic analysis of the open text responses generated four themes that described why people believe music helps sleep: music offers unique properties that stimulate sleep (Provide), music is part of a normal sleep routine (Habit), music induces a physical or mental state conducive to sleep (State), and music blocks an internal or external stimulus that would otherwise disrupt sleep (Distract). This survey provides new evidence into the relationship between music and sleep in a population that ranged widely in age, musicality, sleep habits and stress levels. In particular, the results highlight the varied pathways of effect between music and sleep. Diversity was observed both in music choices, which reflected idiosyncratic preferences rather than any consistent musical structure, and in the reasons why music supports good sleep, which went far beyond simple physical/mental relaxation.

Music to improve sleep quality in adults with depression-related insomnia (MUSTAFI): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Music listening is widely used as a sleep aid [5]. This practice is supported by a recent Cochrane review concluding that music may be helpful in improving sleep quality in insomnia [5,6].…”

“…Music listening is widely used as a sleep aid [5]. This practice is supported by a recent Cochrane review concluding that music may be helpful in improving sleep quality in insomnia [5,6]. The review underlines that the small sample sizes of the studies performed so far is a major limitation and concludes that there is a need for additional intervention studies concerning the effect of music listening on insomnia on specific populations, including patients with depression.…”

<p>Music Therapy as a Potential Intervention for Sleep Improvement</p>

“…An overview of the themes broadly undertaken in the research 15,[25][26][27][28]30 views "music" as a general intervention and focuses more on the outcomes resulting from its use, rather than delineating how its decisions for use are implemented. This prompts the need to examine more distinctly the calming, tranquil elements of music.…”

“…An interesting study within recent literature took a broad view in a sleep investigation, 30 where researchers surveyed 62% of responders inclusive of 651 people originally surveyed through the internet. In using questions that considered past and present relationships with music, and sleep habits, their analysis of the reported 14 musical genres of 545 artists showed trends related to sources of stress, age, and past and current music use as significant predictors of sleep quality (PSQI) scores.…”

“…Age range, level of musicality, past and present sleep habits and stress levels provided new insight into what the authors called "pathways of effect" which they defined as the elements involved in considering the choices people make when utilizing music as a sleep aide. 30 In terms of the kind of music used, there were no typical trends or necessarily defining characteristics. The music selections were explained as "idiosyncratic preferences" and there were no overall general rules or musically identified sequences that the selected pieces' content had in common.…”