Music Before Sleep: How to Test It Without Disrupting Your Night

The 2022 Cochrane review pooled 13 studies and 1,007 adults with sleep difficulties. They listened to recorded music every day, 25 to 60 minutes, for three days to three months. In 10 studies covering 708 people, perceived sleep quality improved by about 2.8 points on a 21-point questionnaire, a substantial effect with moderate certainty.

The data are shakier for everything else. The effect on insomnia severity wasn't clear, with only two small studies. Self-reported time to fall asleep, sleep duration, and sleep efficiency seemed to improve slightly, with low certainty. In the three studies that measured sleep objectively, music didn't improve these parameters.

A study published in 2021 looked at "earworms," those tunes that loop in your head uninvited. In a survey of 199 adults, listening to a lot of music was associated with persistent tunes at night and worse sleep. In the lab, in 50 young adults, listening to instrumental versions of popular songs before sleep increased these nighttime tunes and worsened sleep quality as measured by polysomnography.

The sample is small and the tracks were familiar and repetitive: this doesn't prove that all instrumental music disrupts sleep. But if you wake up with the song still in your head, that's a practical sign the music is stimulating you more than it's soothing you.

1. 01Try it during the day first. Listen to the playlist at a calm moment and observe: does it soothe you, or do you follow every detail? Set aside highly emotional or upbeat tracks.
2. 02Choose stable music. A short playlist, with no ads or abrupt changes. There's no need to aim for a specific tempo.
3. 03Set a timer. Limit listening to the pre-sleep window, for example 20 to 30 minutes, rather than all night.
4. 04Move the source away. A speaker at a distance avoids sleeping with earbuds in. Turn off notifications and put your phone out of reach.
5. 05Observe over several nights. Note how easily you relax, any awakenings, and whether a tune sticks in your head. A single night proves nothing.

The WHO recommends not exceeding 60% of a device's maximum volume and, if an app measures the level, staying under 80 decibels on average. At 80 dB, you can listen safely for up to 40 hours a week; at 90 dB, that drops to 4 hours. If you have to raise your voice to be heard at arm's length, the sound is too loud.

Silence remains the best point of comparison. It's preferable if music wakes you up, keeps earworms going, tempts you to look at a screen, or forces you to wear earbuds all night. Reading on paper or jotting down tomorrow's worries can also work. To mask outside noise rather than relax, see white noise, and for the evening as a whole, a screen-free evening routine.