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You may have heard of white noise before, or if you use TikTok you may have seen users sharing their sleep hacks with brown, green or even blue noise. These sounds can benefit your sleep by blocking out bothersome noises and relax the mind with its constant, static-like tones. However, white noise isn’t the only sonic hue—pink, blue, grey, and brown all affect listeners in different ways, and there is increasing evidence to support the sleep-inducing qualities of these sounds. The great thing about noise to help you sleep is its accessibility, you can find all of these sounds free online. Although there are specialist machines you can also buy, however, these can be more costly.   

Sleep experts at Best mattress-brand have helped to clarify the colour confusion and advise anyone who may struggle to sleep, on the best noise to help them drift off. 

 

White Noise  

White noise is an audible sound frequency that can help you relax and encourage a good night’s sleep. In a recent study, adults fell asleep 38% faster while listening to white noise. Other recent studies have continued to find white noise positively affecting sleep. That’s why it’s often recommended for sleeping difficulties and sleep disorders like insomnia. 

 

Link to sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC8T7sqxUdU  

 

Pink Noise  

The problem with white noise is that all the frequencies come through at the same intensity. Pink noise attempts to solve this issue for people who find white noise too unpleasant by creating a louder low frequency with softer high ends, this makes it slightly smoother than white noise. Studies have shown that pink noise didn’t only aid people in getting to sleep but also had positive influences in supporting deep sleep and memory. 

 

Link to sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHf6wmX5MU  

 

Brown Noise   

Brown noise has been at the forefront of online discussion recently, with sleep hacks such as this trending on TikTok with 84.3 million views for videos featuring the hashtag. Brown noise is a deeper and stronger tone, the lower frequencies can block out external noise while soothing the mind and making it easier for people to sleep. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that brown noise can help block out the internal monologue that many people experience, especially at night when we have no other distractions to keep our minds from wandering. 

 

Link to sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqzGzwTY-6w&t=1s  

  

Green Noise  

Green noise is a variation of white noise in the middle of the spectrum, as the name insinuates it utilises similar sounds to that you may hear in nature. Green noise can help restore calm and promote relaxation. It does this by providing a “sound mask” to other ideas, feelings, sensations, and sensory experiences. Because green noise is more pleasing it may be a more appealing choice than the typical white noise. Much like brown noise, green has been taking social media by storm as a new TikTok sleep trend as many people share their positive experiences utilising this for a better night’s sleep. 

 

Link to sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngTTSLW3Uq8  

 

Blue Noise  

There are very few deep tones in blue noise to help balance its energy, which is primarily concentrated at the high-frequency end, it almost sounds like water spraying out of a hose nozzle. Blue noise performs a wonderful job of severely disguising outside noises if you’re not sensitive to high-pitched sounds. There has been little scientific research into the effectiveness of blue noise, in comparison to its colour wheel counterparts, however, that’s not to say it’s not worth trying it if some of the other sounds aren’t as useful.  

 

Link to sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oab1IUbRnXY  

   

A spokesperson from Bestmattress-brand commented: “One in five people struggle to get to sleep, a lack of sleep can have many negative impacts on mental and physical health. Coloured noises might be the trick to help you finally get a good night’s sleep. White noise is the most researched and popular however it may not be suited to many people, and thus this research highlights the other colours that you can try that may be more sleep-inducing than the typical white noise. 

Along with the noise it is recommended that people engage in healthy bedtime routines which can maximise the effectiveness of these sleep aids. For example, avoiding screens 30 minutes before bed, eating good foods and optimising your sleep space. Sleep is key to living a healthy life, and these noises could help you get the sleep that your body and mind need.”