21 ways to fall asleep quickly and naturally

The best music for sleep may depend on your personal preference. A noisy environment can disrupt sleep and increase the risk of long-term health effects. The World Health Organization recommends keeping environmental noise levels below 40 decibels at night. Unfortunately, depending on where you live, it may be impossible to ensure a sufficiently quiet bedroom environment. Though there isn’t research yet specifically about the sounds of an oscillating fan, it does act as white noise and could offer some of the same benefits—like masking external noise.

A study of 24 young adults demonstrated that sedative music promoted deeper sleep . While naps of short duration have been linked to improvements in alertness and well-being, there are mixed opinions about the effects of napping on nighttime sleep. However, the inability to fall back asleep can ruin a good night’s rest . Lastly, mindfulness may help you maintain focus on the present, worry less while falling asleep, and even function better during the day .

White noise sounds like the static you hear when you White Noise accidentally tune cable TV to an unused channel. White noise is technically defined as sound that contains equal levels of every frequency. This even distribution is thought to help reduce the brain’s reactivity to spikes in volume.

Lead author Cassandra Gould van Praag, PhD, a research fellow at the University of Sussex, said the study's findings might have real-world impacts—especially for people with high-stress levels. "I would definitely recommend a walk in natural surroundings to anyone, whether they're currently feeling frazzled or not," Gould van Praag told Health via email. Participants also performed a task to measure their attention and reaction time during each soundscape. However, while reading before bed can be relaxing, it may be best to avoid actually reading in bed.

While we can’t guarantee sleep on podcasts like our mattresses, we think these podcasts are worth a listen to help make sleeping a little easier. Using the right white noiseoften helps parents sidestep these issues. Within weeks of using white noise, your little one will connect white noise with the pleasure of sleep. Oh yeah, I recognize that sound...Now I’ll have a nice little snooze. Plus, as babies pass through infancy, white noise helps them sleep through outside distractions, such as a too-loud TV and inside distractions, such as mild teething pain. In addition to potentially boosting sleep-promoting hormones, binaural beats may also reduce our perceptions of pain.