Publié par JiangDavid le
When sleeping, many people may be disturbed by external sounds, such as the sound of cars outside the window or the neighbors walking upstairs, which can make it difficult to fall asleep.
To solve this problem, some people choose to play "white noise" to help them fall asleep.
Why does white noise, which is obviously noise, not make people feel irritated, but instead help people fall asleep?
The following article will explain in detail the principles, effects, and possible side effects of white noise.
When you mention white noise, you may think of the sound of waves or rain. In fact, white noise has a clear definition.
The English name of “white noise” is “White Noise” . It gets its name from the characteristics of this sound. It is actually a mixture of sounds.
Within the range that most people can easily accept, a sound with different frequencies but consistent intensity is considered "white noise".
The reason why it is called "white" noise is related to the principle of light!
White light is a mixture of monochromatic lights of various frequencies, but the human eye cannot see the colorful colors.
Likewise, white noise can block out or attenuate other sounds, thereby calming the nerves and making people feel calm.
The consistency of white noise creates an effect that masks other sudden sounds .
When the surrounding noise changes, such as snoring, dogs barking or cars outside the window, they are less likely to be heard, which helps avoid disturbing sleep.
Even if you are woken up, white noise can make it easier to fall asleep again.
According to a study published in the Journal of Caring Sciences:
When white noise is played in the room of patients with coronary heart disease, their sleep quality is better and they can sleep longer than those who do not play white noise.
Test your current sleep quality now: How do you know if you are not getting enough sleep? Online sleep quality test
Researchers believe that because white noise can mask environmental sounds, it can help patients fall asleep and stay asleep even in noisy environments such as hospitals.
In addition to improving sleep quality, white noise also has many other benefits worth considering. Here are 4 main benefits of white noise:
If the room is too quiet, any small sound will alert the brain, making it easy for people in light sleep to wake up.
The regular sound of white noise helps you fall asleep faster and is less likely to wake up.
Many nutrients in natural foods can also help you fall asleep. Balanced nutrition can also help improve sleep quality.
Learn more: Do you know these sleep-inducing foods? 15 foods that help you sleep, all in one collection!
Learn more: 5 kinds of health foods that help sleep, one of which is not recommended?
According to a 2017 study:
White noise reduces babies' crying time better than rocking and helps them sleep longer.
White noise can create a more focused working environment, which is very helpful for those working from home.
For example, social apps like Clubhouse offer popular white noise rooms, which allow people to turn on the microphones on their phones or computers to transmit keyboard typing and breathing sounds to create an office-like feeling.
White noise can help reduce symptoms of ADHD
Evidence suggests that white noise may improve the effects of ADHD on speech recognition, reading, and writing speed, but more research is needed to confirm this.
In addition, there are some nutrients that can help alleviate ADHD problems in children, such as phosphatidylserine (cephalin), fish oil, etc.
Learn more about phospholipids: What is phospholipids (phosphatidylserine)? 3 recommended benefits of phospholipids
There are many different kinds of noise besides "white noise"!
The name "white noise" comes from the concept of "color of light".
Just as white light is a uniform mixture of red, green and blue light, white noise is also a sound with uniform intensity at different frequencies (power), so it is called "white noise".
Compared with uniform "white noise", other noises with uneven power are called "colored noise", such as pink, blue, red, gray and other noises.
Among them, the more famous ones are pink noise and brown noise.
"Pink noise" is a bit similar to white noise and can also block other sounds, but it sounds softer.
They are sometimes used to adjust the sound quality of headphones or speakers to make the sound more sensitive and detailed.
This is done by playing white or pink noise to evenly vibrate the components in the headphones or speakers, making them more sensitive.
This approach seems to make the sound clearer and subtle differences in sound easier to discern.
"Brown noise" is also called "Brown noise". It tends to be more low-frequency sound, has less high-frequency components, and sounds deeper than white noise.
This sound often occurs in many places, such as: the continuous low hum inside an airplane and in certain natural environments. Because brown noise has less high-frequency content than white noise, the hiss is less noticeable.
Many people have trouble falling asleep and are used to playing white noise all night, but this behavior can have some negative effects on health.
A scientific journal reports that white noise affects the brain development of young mice.
Studies show that mice exposed to white noise had trouble developing their auditory cortex, the part responsible for hearing and language learning.
Therefore, if school-age children are continuously exposed to white noise, it may affect the normal development of certain areas of the brain, especially those related to hearing and language abilities.
The National Institutes of Health states that white noise can mask tinnitus symptoms and cause people to delay seeking medical attention.
Tinnitus is a sound in the inner ear, and the type varies from person to person, but people who use white noise for a long time are not likely to realize that they have tinnitus.
Generally speaking, it is normal to have temporary tinnitus when encountering loud noises, but if the tinnitus persists, it may indicate other health problems, such as high blood pressure or anemia.
Tinnitus is a persistent or recurring auditory sensation. If you experience this, it is recommended that you seek medical attention promptly to understand the root cause of the problem.
According to a report in the journal Cerebral Cortex:
Long-term exposure to white noise may affect the spatial sensitivity of hearing.
The journal notes that this condition may reduce the ability to perceive sounds and geographic location in adulthood.
Some studies have found that mice that have been exposed to white noise for a long time since childhood may suffer damage to the neurons responsible for spatial sensitivity in the auditory cortex of the brain.
Therefore, white noise may affect children's overall perception of sound and space.
