Contents:
- Medical Video: Why Does White Noise Make You Fall Asleep?
- Fan noise helps you sleep better
- Sleep spindles in the brain reduce noise
- Another reason why someone cannot sleep without a fan
Medical Video: Why Does White Noise Make You Fall Asleep?
Everyone has different sleep habits in order to sleep well. There are those who shake their legs until they fall asleep and some even have to sleep with fans all night. Yes, in addition to avoiding heat, some people sleep using fans just to get comfort from the sound of the engine. Even without a fan, many people complain that they can't sleep.
Fan noise helps you sleep better
For some people, sleeping on a fan is a must. People with this habit assume that a fan machine that rotates at full speed beside the bed can help them sleep better. What exactly, what happens to the brains of people who can't sleep without a fan?
Kelsey Allan, a sleep expert from the Sleep Train mattress company said that people who are used to sleeping on a fan enjoy the sensation calledwhite noise. Just like white light that covers all the colors on the sepktrum, white noise covers all frequencies of sound in human hearing.
The truth is white noise not only produced by electricity. Other sounds such as crickets and heavy rain can also produce similar effects. This effect ultimately provides comfort to humans which helps them sleep.
Sleep spindles in the brain reduce noise
Research published in the journal American Psychological Association states that the sound of a fan machine can help people to sleep because it is affected by sleep sleep spindle in the brain. Sleep spindle is a surge in nerve activity that appears during REM sleep and will continue to occur static every night.
Other research published in the journal Current Biology states that people experience sleep spindle tend to have the ability to reduce noise better than those who have never experienced it sleep spindle. This ability is influenced by the thalamus, which is the part of the brain that serves to convey sensory and motoric signals related to consciousness, sleep, and alertness. The thalamus will suppress disturbing sounds so that a person will not wake up from sleep.
Another study published by the scientific journal PNAS also stated the same thing. By using techniques optogenetics (light and genetic control) to influence production sleep spindlein mice, the researchers found that it improvedsleep spindlein sleep associated with increasing NREM cycles or deep sleep, a condition where a person does not dream of sleeping.
This is why the experts from the study stated that sleep spindle can be a solution for people who have sleep problems such as insomnia.
Another reason why someone cannot sleep without a fan
Besides getting the effect white noise from the fan engine, it turns out the fan can also cool your body temperature. A neurologist and sleep medicine leader from the Mischer Neuroscience Center, Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center, Dr. Kevin Gaffney revealed that cool temperatures are also the reason why one cannot sleep without a fan.
Normally the human body temperature is 36.5 degrees Celsius and will drop 1-2 degrees at night. Well, if you feel hot, it can also make it difficult for you to sleep.
