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Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

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Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#51

Post by filterfish »

My ex-partner has tinnitus and saw a psychologist who specialised in tinnitus. The psychologist suggested she buy a machine that generates a sound slightly quieter than her tinnitus which retrains the brain not to hear the tinnitus. So she bought a machine that generated about 15 different sounds and settled on a pink-ish sound and played while she slept. It took a couple of years but it effectively "cured" her tinnitus. It drove me mad for a while but after a while I didn't notice it.

The machine had different sounds because the sound of tinnitus is different for different people: hers sounded like cicadas, a sound I quite like but she hates!

I have misophonia and used to live in a house where a coffee van would start a generator at 0530 so I used a fan to help drown out the sound. I could still hear the generator but I could sleep through. It fundamentally changed the quality of my life.

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#52

Post by nandomrumber »

Only tangentially related.

I occasionally fall asleep to either a movie / TV episode on repeat in a media player on the PC in my bedroom, or a YouTube short which repeats.

The audio almost always gets integrated in to my dreams, and almost always in a highly entertaining and humours way.

Anyways, I feel I sleep better when there is background sound, even if it’s other people (quietly) partying in the house.

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#53

Post by nandomrumber »

filterfish wrote: post #51

My ex-partner has tinnitus and saw a psychologist who specialised in tinnitus. The psychologist suggested she buy a machine that generates a sound slightly quieter than her tinnitus which retrains the brain not to hear the tinnitus. So she bought a machine that generated about 15 different sounds and settled on a pink-ish sound and played while she slept. It took a couple of years but it effectively "cured" her tinni…

Misophonia, interesting, I hadn’t heard (snort!) of that before. There are certain sounds I will inappropriately respond to, I’ll I read up on misophonia, thanks.

Anyways, you might be interested in a recent episode of DOAC (Diary of a CEO):

Sleep Expert Dr. Michael Breus breaks down the 4 chronotypes to master your sleep, how to fix insomnia, the truth about sleep apnea, and why the 8-hour myth is wrong!

Dr. Michael Breus is a clinical psychologist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, served as a WebMD sleep expert, and is also the bestselling author of books such as, ‘Sleep Drink Breathe’.

Apple Podcast link or conjure your own from preferred provider:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-diary-of-a-ceo-wit...

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#54

Post by filterfish »

nandomrumber wrote: post #53
filterfish wrote: post #51

My ex-partner has tinnitus and saw a psychologist who specialised in tinnitus. The psychologist suggested she buy a machine that generates a sound slightly quieter than her tinnitus which retrains the brain not to hear the tinnitus. So she bought a machine that generated about 15 different sounds and settled on a pink-ish sound and played while she slept. It took a couple of years but it effectively "cured" her tinni…

Misophonia, interesting, I hadn’t heard (snort!) of that before. There are certain sounds I will inappropriately respond to, I’ll I read up on misophonia, thanks. Anyways, you might be interested in a recent episode of DOAC (Diary of a CEO): Sleep Expert Dr. Michael Breus breaks down the 4 chronotypes to master your sleep, how to fix insomnia, the truth about sleep apnea, and why the 8-hour myth is wrong! Dr. Michael…

> Misophonia, interesting, I hadn’t heard (snort!) of that before. There are certain sounds I will inappropriately respond to, I’ll I read up on misophonia, thanks.

The misophonia isn't a bad place to start: https://www.reddit.com/r/misophonia/

I've watched a few episodes of DOAC so I'll watch that. I know my chronotype but that's about all so it'll be interesting so what they say!

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#55

Post by nandomrumber »

anigbrowl wrote: post #40
oivey wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a low n, but I’m not sure what the alternative is. Surely random anecdotes (n=1) are even less powerful?

I'm not inviting you to draw conclusions from my semi-random (but informed by years of professional thought about why people like different sounds) anecdote.

Personally, I trust the results of a sleep study, or any study on anything, by people I don’t know with questionable incentives than I do anecdotes of commenters I’ve been following for 10 years on HN, especially when they align with my own experiences, and conversations I’ve had over beers with people in industry (whatever that might be).

A lot of “science” is junk, not insofar as it’s false, but like water is wet.

Good science: there are compounds in cruciferous vegetables that appear to exert some health benefits.

Junk science: bok choy is green.

If a sleep lab is ignoring the fact of chronotypes (it’s obvious our genetic history would require some people to be predisposed to keep an eye out for toothy clawed things, and dangerous ‘others’) while most of their tribe / community are sleeping), the people who work there do so because it pays the bills, not because they’re passionate about working in the medicine / health industry at all.

I encourage people to get up and walk out if you find yourself at a service provider that doesn’t care about you. Find someone who gives a frak.

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#56

Post by nandomrumber »

filterfish wrote: post #54
nandomrumber wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Misophonia, interesting, I hadn’t heard (snort!) of that before. There are certain sounds I will inappropriately respond to, I’ll I read up on misophonia, thanks. Anyways, you might be interested in a recent episode of DOAC (Diary of a CEO): Sleep Expert Dr. Michael Breus breaks down the 4 chronotypes to master your sleep, how to fix insomnia, the truth about sleep apnea, and why the 8-hour myth is wrong! Dr. Michael…

> Misophonia, interesting, I hadn’t heard (snort!) of that before. There are certain sounds I will inappropriately respond to, I’ll I read up on misophonia, thanks. The misophonia isn't a bad place to start: https://www.reddit.com/r/misophonia/ I've watched a few episodes of DOAC so I'll watch that. I know my chronotype but that's about all so it'll be interesting so what they say!

If your in to sleep hygiene there might not be much new to you.

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#57

Post by kstrauser »

ChiMan wrote: post #29
anigbrowl wrote: post #13

Researchers observed 25 healthy adults, ages 21 to 41, in a sleep laboratory during eight-hour sleep opportunities over seven consecutive nights. Absurdly low n . Additionally, I've become very skeptical of anything coming out of sleep labs after my wife was sent to one (at a prestigious teaching hospital) by her doctor some years ago: the 'sleep opportunity' was lights out at 9pm for 8 hours, and the staff were whol…

Common sense and experience inform my theory of good sleep: Pitch black, stone quiet, with noise limited to pre-sleep audial approximations of the dream-like mental noise that precipitates sleep.

Glad that works for you! To me, silence sounds a lot like insomnia.

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#58

Post by nandomrumber »

thenthenthen wrote: post #42
is_true wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also addicted to the fan but not only for the noise I like feeling the wind in my face, I think that as it also helps lower your body temperature you sleep better

Wind in my face literally makes me catch a cold within the night, feet/legs is where it is at for me haha

Same for me, one night with a fan on my face / neck and I’ll wake up with an URTI (Upper Respiratory Tract Infection).

Definitely sleep better if I’m not feeling hot.

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#59

Post by PacificSpecific »

nandomrumber wrote: post #52

Only tangentially related. I occasionally fall asleep to either a movie / TV episode on repeat in a media player on the PC in my bedroom, or a YouTube short which repeats. The audio almost always gets integrated in to my dreams, and almost always in a highly entertaining and humours way. Anyways, I feel I sleep better when there is background sound, even if it’s other people (quietly) partying in the house.

I'm with you. The way I deal with insomnia is to pretend I'm sleeping in a noisy environment. For example an apartment under a elevator highway or a cot behind a bunch of refrigerators. Or even in a tent on a lively beach.

Don't know why but it works great.

Re: Pink noise reduces REM sleep and may harm sleep quality

#60

Post by timonoko »

I have the best. Natural noise generator, which means microphones outside. With 3 layered windows the winter is just too silent, or rather: filled annoying multistory house noises. In summertime windows are open and that is about the suitable noise level.

Also there is the outdoorsman's reaction to silence. When birds go silent, there is something bad happening. Bears or wolf pack.

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