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sleep quality - white noise versus no white noise

B

bingalpaws

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Dec 5, 2005
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Have a question I can't get to the bottom of. As many of you probably do, I sleep with a fan next to my head. I can't fall asleep without the white noise.

Now, I was wondering if anybody knows what the effect of a constant white noise is on one's sleep. I can see it being a positive (it blocks out other noises - motorcycle driving by, house creaking, etc), or negative (it's creating noise all night, making it harder to get proper sleep stage cycling).

Any real info on this would be greatly appreciated (I'm trying to find if there's actual evidence for one way or the other being beneficial to sleep quality - not falling asleep, and not anecdotally whether people find it works better or worse for them).
 
I too would like to know the answer to this. Ive been sleeping with a fan right next to my head for about 9 years now.
 
i used to sleep with a small water fountain in the room back when i lived in the burbs. better than absolute silence, where any little sound is amped from contrast alone.

back in the city now, there is always some muffled sound (and light)
 
damn, I've got this topic up in 2 forums, and nobody's had any real info on whether or not the fan going all night is a good thing, or a bad thing. I may need to do the research and just post back, damnit!
 
I like to sleep with a fan on as well, mainly for the white noise and also the breeze. I haven't really looked into any studies on it because it works for me. I seem to have regular sleep cycles, as I wake up well rested. I suppose it would be interesting to hear of any studies done, but I don't see them changing my routine at all.

What is it that you are worried about? Are you not having many dreams you can recall? I mean, people sleep in all sorts of environments, sleeping with a fan on seems pretty benign to me except for the electricity it uses.
 
Have a question I can't get to the bottom of. As many of you probably do, I sleep with a fan next to my head. I can't fall asleep without the white noise.
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Same here. I love sleeping in my room...in my country we have all sorts of sounds at night....crickets, the wind, the ocassional rooster in the morning...but the thing I notice is that there is DEFINITELY some kind of white noise no matter what (even if my fan is not turned on.) I love it. I need it to sleep!

Whenever I am abroad I have a difficult time sleeping because of the lack of white noise...it's weird isn't it?
 
L2R said:
give the thread time. this forum has it's own pace.
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haha my bad, gettin pushy looking for answers on this! Just have it posted in 2 different boards and nobody seems to know whether it makes a difference *while* you sleep, I just assumed I'd get an answer real quick! Will chill and let it play out, I really don't wanna have to research myself =D
 
etherdesign said:
I like to sleep with a fan on as well, mainly for the white noise and also the breeze. I haven't really looked into any studies on it because it works for me. I seem to have regular sleep cycles, as I wake up well rested. I suppose it would be interesting to hear of any studies done, but I don't see them changing my routine at all.

What is it that you are worried about? Are you not having many dreams you can recall? I mean, people sleep in all sorts of environments, sleeping with a fan on seems pretty benign to me except for the electricity it uses.
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I'm concerned because I'd sooner rig my fan up to a timer to turn off 2 hours after I've fallen asleep if I knew the white noise was worse than quiet with the occasional biker going by or something. And for knowledge's sake as well I guess! I always want to understand sleep better.
 
I bought a sleepmate 980 http://www.epinions.com/content_220710211204 a month ago, to cover roomates noises, and I love it so far, the mechanical swooshing sound is just perfect and seems to make me sleep better, I plug in some foam earplugs and combined with this little wonder not much can wake me up.

The sound is "fuller" than a fan (lower and covers more space it seems), has dual speeds and cover can be rotated to adjust between 3 and 8 open holes for different sound strength/pitch

Highly recommended, even if no "scientific" arguments to back up
 
If I take too many sedatives, nobody can wake me up - that doesn't mean it enhanced my sleep quality tho! I'm really trying to get to the raw facts here, regarding whether or not that white noise is detrimental or not. Subjective reports just won't cut it for coming to a conclusion on this...
 
My brain like patterns too much...Even is it is white noise, somewhere inside it there is some sort of pattern to the noise, and as I focus on it, changing, I eventually become almost hypnotized and fall asleep. I love my little sleep fan.
 
This thread is good.

I've ALWAYS, ever since birth slept with white noise and find it very difficult to get to sleep without it.

Starting from hospital white noise to ceiling fans then to pedastal fans and also air condioners. Also even a computer tower running will do the trick.

ILL BE BACK AND YOU LAZYM #$%@$ better have some real scientific answers or they'll be trouble YA'LL HERE ME NOW! :)
 
wow you (stealthtrucker) just made me realize somethign I totally missed. My routine is usually: movie, then maybe 2 or 3 episodes of some cartoon, and I keep lowering the volume, once cartoons start I'm pretty much ready to go to bed. By end of first cartoon at the latest, fan goes on, and then after cartoons are over, PC automatically goes to shut down.

Lately, I've been waking up and my fan's been off, which is weird for me. I just realized upon reading your post that I *just* replaced my tower's fan like a week ago with a model that's 10X as loud as my last one!


(re the science, if you explain sleep terminology to me so I can understand the research out there, I'll start diggin through stuff. Given I don't know the first thing about sleep patterns/cycles, and what changes to them from noise would mean, I'm not in much of a position to do anything past asking here lol!)
 
Can't really say how positive of negative white noise effects sleep, but I'd imagine that if you cant sleep without it or have just gotten used to it you are sleeping better with it versus with out.

I for one have slept with a fan on for as far back a I can recall.
If not a fan(like if I'm at a hotel) then the ac/heat fan has to be going.

Can not sleep well without it.
 
Yeah, but I could have the best of both worlds (put my fan on a timer - then I'd have something to fall asleep with and a better night of rest, if in fact the white noise was *not* beneficial while sleeping).
 
Are you referring to falling asleep or while you sleep? If you mean before sleeping, then yeah, it definitely helps you relax (typically through drowning out your thoughts or other noises). If you mean while sleeping, I dunno about that. If it has benefits while sleeping it's almost assuredly going to be 100% the fact that it blocks out other noises that may have disturbed the sleep. The problem is that it may be detrimental leaving it on all night, as you're putting yourself in a (white) noisy room to sleep. (btw, is your username what I think? diche!)
 
technically.. white noise is a 'delta' sound wave in structure, when the brain falls into a delta state, we go into deep trance like meditation, or sleep mode.. delta brain states would prob be evident when your in a K hole... which will basically slow down the frequency rate at which your brain vibrates.

think of it as... in a natural environment.. at night, when you fall asleep, the outside 'natural' world would also replicate whitenoise(wind).. so it's logical to think whitenoise is actually positive.

delta state is also when ur body repairs itself.
 
I can't stand any noise, even the vague humming of speakers when I'm trying to sleep. You guys are strange, I've never heard of people doing this sort of thing before :)
 
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