*Originally published on 11/5/09
I, like practically everyone else on the planet, occasionally have trouble getting to sleep. The reasons vary, but whatever the cause, you end up lying there struggling to win a losing battle. Reading can help, though television and internet do not. Usually those end up keeping you up longer in my experience. Another way to help ease the transition to sleep is to put on some music.
Yes, a soothing tune can often help you shut your brain off for the night to recharge. My college roommate did it all the time. He'd pop in a CD and just let it play on repeat until morning.
If you do this, you may reach a point where you need the music playing in order to go to sleep. That's what happened to me. I'm back off of it, even though I've considered bringing back the tunes.
While you have a variety of options for music, you can easily eliminate a few genres, heavy metal and anything really loud and intense won't work. You need music that's soft and soothing. Acoustics will most likely play quite heavily in your sleep playlist as it's soft and gentle. Eric Clapton's Unplugged album would be a great example to use. It's mellow and calming. It's also really good so on the off chance you can't sleep you have some great music to listen to.
Another artist who makes great sleeping music is Tom Waits. I made a top ten list of his songs, and he has gained some mainstream attention in recent years, but he's still pretty obscure. He has a wide musical library so you have a variety of albums to choose from. If you have gone completely digital you have the ability to go through several of his albums and make it through the night without repeating a track. While I recommend you check out his music, I would suggest finding a way to hear a few of his songs sampled online first as his music doesn't appeal to everyone.
A great, mainstream band that makes great sleeping music is The Cure. Like Tom Waits, they have a long discography giving you a lot more songs before you have to retread previously heard tracks. Even their more upbeat or even intense songs aren't so intrusive that they keep you up. At the right volume, even a song like One Hundred Years can help you fall asleep.
The greatest sleep artist I've come across is Nick Drake. He does mostly soothing, mellow songs featuring just him and an acoustic guitar. It makes for great sleeping music, I know of what I speak. While all three artists' music is effective, this is the most effective in my experience and opinion.
You don't need to be limited to one artist. Mixes can often be helpful. I find that the soundtrack to Garden State is a great album to put you to sleep. It's very mellow and calming. I really enjoy the album.
Classical music has the potential to be great sleeping music, but in my experience, it hasn't worked as well as the previously listed items. If you can find the right mix of songs, it could very well work for you so I would suggest at least trying it. If it fails, well it can't hurt to add a little bit of classical music to your library now can it?
It should be noted that when I say these songs put you to sleep, I don't mean that they're boring, far from it. You might find them to be, I guess. I, however, picked these artists because their music was soft and melodic. It helped ease the transition to unconsciousness for me time and time again. Given how many people suffer from insomnia. This simple tactic could help you get back and track and give you more energy throughout the day.
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