Music can help you sleep, mainly by helping you relax and feel that you slept better. A 2022 Cochrane review of 13 trials found moderate-certainty evidence that listening to music improved self-reported sleep quality in adults with insomnia symptoms. The type of music matters, though. Slow, calm, familiar music tends to help, while catchy songs can get stuck in your head and make sleep worse. A sleep timer and the right playlist make the difference.
If you already fall asleep to music, there is no reason to stop. A few small adjustments can make it work even better.
Does music help you sleep?
The strongest summary of the evidence comes from a 2022 Cochrane review by Kira Jespersen and colleagues. They pooled 13 trials involving 1,007 adults with insomnia symptoms. Compared with no treatment or usual care, listening to music improved sleep quality as measured by a standard questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the reviewers rated this evidence as moderate certainty. No harms were reported.
There are two important nuances. First, most of the trials measured how well people felt they slept, rather than recording sleep directly, which can overestimate the benefit. Second, the few studies that did measure sleep objectively did not show clear changes in how quickly people fell asleep or how long they slept.
So the most accurate summary is this: music seems to make the experience of going to sleep feel calmer and more restful for many people. That is worth a lot, especially if bedtime has started to feel tense.
What kind of music is best for sleep?
Calm, slow and predictable music tends to work best. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, Harmat, Takács and Bódizs worked with 94 students who had sleep complaints. One group listened to relaxing classical music at bedtime, one listened to an audiobook, and one had no intervention. The music group’s sleep quality improved significantly, while the audiobook and control groups did not show a significant change.
General features that tend to suit sleep:
- A slow, steady tempo rather than fast or changing rhythms
- Soft, gentle sound without sudden loud moments
- Familiar music that does not demand attention
- Few or no strong hooks that might replay in your head
There is no single “best” genre. Some people relax with classical, others with ambient, acoustic or quiet jazz. What matters most is that it feels calming to you.
Can music before bed make sleep worse?
Yes, in some cases. In a 2021 study published in Psychological Science, Michael Scullin, Chenlu Gao and Paul Fillmore looked at earworms, those songs that get stuck in your head. In a survey of 199 adults, people who listened to music frequently were more likely to report earworms at night, and night-time earworms were linked to poorer sleep. In a follow-up sleep lab study, earworms induced before bed were associated with worse sleep measured objectively, and people often reported them when they woke in the night.
The takeaway is not to avoid music, but to choose it carefully. Catchy pop songs and anything with a strong chorus are more likely to linger. If you notice a tune looping when you wake at night, try a calmer, less memorable playlist, or switch to something without a melody, like white noise.
For new parents: music for you, and for bedtime routines
For new parents, music can serve two purposes.
For you, calm music in the evening or during a night feed can make broken nights feel a little gentler. It is low effort and does not need a screen, which matters when you are trying to settle back to sleep afterwards. A short playlist on a timer, at low volume, is easy to start and stop.
For your baby or toddler, quiet songs or lullabies can become part of a consistent bedtime routine. Research on young children’s sleep has found that a regular nightly routine helps children settle more easily and wake less (Mindell et al., 2009, Sleep), and a familiar song is a simple, soothing cue within that routine. Keep the volume low and the music the same each night so it becomes a predictable signal.
If you are carrying a lot of tiredness, sleep debt for parents looks at realistic ways to recover across the week.
For perimenopause: music for winding down and early waking
Many women in perimenopause find that falling asleep, and especially getting back to sleep after a hot flash or early waking, becomes harder. Music can help in two ways.
In the evening, a calm playlist as part of your wind-down can ease the transition from a busy day and make bedtime feel less tense. Pairing it with other gentle habits, like a cool room and dim light, makes the signal stronger. Our guide to a bedtime routine for adults has ideas.
If you wake in the early hours, quiet music on a short timer can give your mind something soft to rest on instead of the replay of tomorrow’s worries. If you find music keeps you alert at that time, try white noise or simply silence and slow breathing instead. Our post on how to get back to sleep covers other approaches, and perimenopause and sleep looks at the bigger picture.
Is music or white noise better for sleep?
They do different jobs. Calm music helps you relax and wind down before sleep. Steady white noise is better at masking sudden sounds, like traffic or a partner’s snoring, through the night, because it does not change. Music, with its changing melody and volume, can sometimes make you more aware of the sound itself.
Many people find a combination works: music to unwind, then quiet or white noise once they are drifting off. We cover the evidence on steady background sound in white noise and sleep.
When should you listen to music before bed?
Most of the studies above had people listen at bedtime, as part of settling down, rather than all night. A simple pattern that suits many people is to start a calm playlist as you begin your wind-down, dim the lights, and let it fade out on a timer as you drift off. If you wake later, you can restart a short timer rather than leaving music running for hours. The aim is a gentle signal that the day is ending, not a soundtrack for the whole night.
How to use music to help you sleep
- Use a sleep timer. Set music to stop after 30 to 45 minutes rather than playing all night.
- Keep the volume low, just loud enough to hear comfortably.
- Choose calm, familiar music with a slow tempo and few catchy hooks.
- Avoid headphones that are uncomfortable to sleep in. A small speaker or soft sleep headphones are more comfortable.
- Keep your phone face down and notifications off, so music does not turn into scrolling.
- Pay attention to earworms. If songs are looping at night, change your playlist or switch to white noise.
The calm version
Music can make the slide into sleep feel calmer and more restful, especially when it is slow, familiar and on a timer. Catchy songs can linger, so choose music that settles your mind rather than one that grabs it. Mendtide’s morning briefing reads your Apple Health sleep data, so over a few weeks you can notice whether nights with a calm wind-down tend to start more easily.
The right music does not knock you out. It simply makes it easier to let go of the day.