The scientists who want to help us sleep better
Music can help you fall asleep – but which music works best? That’s one of the questions an international consortium on sound, music and sleep are looking at.
According to a recent Danish study, fifty percent of the general population have struggled with sleep problems over a period of two weeks. Kira Vibe Jespersen, associate professor at Aarhus University, found that to fall asleep, people use many different self-help strategies. Listening to music is a popular one, especially among young people.
“Given the number of people who use music to fall asleep, and the tradition of lullabies,
I've always been really surprised how little research has been done in this field. There are real life applications but there's actually very limited understanding of it,” Jespersen says.
Sleep disorders on the rise
She is part of the Lullabyte project, a consortium of universities, research institutions, clinics industry partners from seven European countries. The goal is to fill the gap between musicology, sleep research, neuroscience and computer science.
“Sleep is crucial to our health and wellbeing, and sleep disorders are on the rise. Sound provides a non-pharmacological option to tackle sleep problems,” says Sandra Pauletto, a KTH associate professor and Swedish lead for the consortium.
The structure of the consortium provides a unique opportunity to merge and share insights from a range of different disciplines and experiences.
“The research groups are always interdisciplinary overlapping with at least two or sometimes three disciplinary aspects. We try to look at the challenge of tracing the effects from all possible sides,” says Miriam Akkermann, Professor at Freie Univerität Berlin and main coordinator of the consortium.
Music: a common self-help strategy
It is well known that many people are listening to music when trying to fall asleep. According to a recent study by Jespersen and colleagues, 29 percent have used music in the last year and 20 percent use it monthly.
But does it work? In some cases, yes. Earlier clinical trials show a positive effect of music on sleep. But the researchers do not know enough about when and how people use it in their daily life.
“We know that many people report listening to music, but which music do they listen to and why? And what's the effect or the impact of the music?” says Jespersen.
Ultimately, Lullabyte researchers want to help people make better and informed decisions about what type of music works best for falling asleep. This will hopefully have a larger impact from a public health perspective.
“Sleep is a part of every human being’s life. By advancing our understanding of how music can effect sleep, we will know more about sleep as a physiological process and about the brain mechanisms underlying it,” Jespersen says.
Text: Jon Lindhe ( jlindhe@kth.se )
Photo: Charlotte Alnersson & Jon Lindhe