Relaxing music suggestions (or a cure for insomnia will do)?

[Zebra]

I've had trouble with sleeping for most of my life but I've managed it in the past few years with music. However, due to my exams my stress levels have rocketed and I haven't slept properly in almost a week which is preventing me from studying. Does anyone have any suggestions for good, soothing music? I've had the same songs on my "sleep playlist" for ages now and I think I need to change it up a bit. I have bands like MGMT and Mumford and Sons but anything will do really, I just NEED SLEEP. Also, do you guys have any other ideas that could work? Thank you

[Giant Steps]

You could try this album, really stunning. Dat ambience. Dat artwork. One of my faves to chill too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM-2BVcklKs

Or how about some jazz? Great stuff for a rainy day!

I think the more instrumental, the better. Background music for me can't have too much singing or I end up joining in!

And good luck with your exams! I went through the same problem a few years ago, I think most people do at some point. Eventually I just stopped caring, but that's not a path I recommend!

[PuddinPop]

I always find acoustic music chills me out immensely.

Best songs are:

As You Sleep by Something Corporate

Body In A Box by City and Colour

Comin' Home by City and Colour

Casey's Song by City and Colour

Emily by From First to Last

Gravity by The Superjesus

There are hundreds more but these are the ones that spring to mind. Generally, any song by City and Colour I find amazing to chill out to

[shadowpath]

It hnestly depends on what you're into, because I can fall asleep to some weird stuff like metal. HOWEVER! I can suggest a few things like

Make Me a Bird by Elektrik People

Iron Man by Nico Vega

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Graa_Vm5eA Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koL4xL2Vgyk Do You Remember by Jack Johnson

Lullaby by Spill Canvas

[TheCakeIsAlive]

I think music is a very personal choice. I tend to get really sleepy from

Otherwise I could recommend meditation, or simply focussing on each part of your body and trying to "feel" it relax. It may sound a little odd but did the trick for me.

If you have a vivid imagination, I could also recommend "writing" a story in your head to make you sleepy. Nothing too exciting, but something that could be(come) familiar and through that relaxing that you can build on every night.

[shadowpath]

Another thing that has worked for me is going through your day in your head, from the moment you wake up down to the last detail. I've tried this and it is fairly relaxing...which, when typed out sounds quite strange, but it's worked for me

[desade]

With all due respect to those who have replied to the thread thus far, there is really only one correct answer to this question, and it is the ambient music of Brian Eno. If you are unfamiliar, Eno is an early innovator of ambient music (he basically invented the genre) My favourites are "Music for Airports (Ambient 1)" and "On Land (Ambient 4)", but all four Ambient albums are excellent, as well as Discreet Music. Listening to other music is too psychologically stimulating to be an effective sleep aid.

P.S. If you are a musician, listening to ANY music will probably only distract you and keep you awake longer.

[March Hare]

Have you tried taking exercise one hour after dinner and a hot shower before bed?

[count tiszula]

I know it's pretty offbeam to suggest "abnormal" music, but I would have thought that music, with its exciting rhythm and 'lyrics, would keep one awake, whereas there are huge amounts of gentle, calming abnormal instrumental music. For some reason I think of things like Faure's Pelleas et Melisande Suite and similar French post-romantic stuff, but basically any on the Purcell or Bach suites cannot be beaten. And they're all on YouTube. Someone called John Portman has a channel of over a thousand such vids, it seems.

However , my own solution is to listen to a really boring human voice; I have gone from the World Service to Radio 4 and now to the BBC News Channel on the telly.

I'm sure Richard Burton reading Under Milk Wood would be soporific, were it not for the incursion of occasional other voices. Richard Burton eads the Plaid Cymru manifesto?

[High on Lullabies]

As others have said, I think what music you find relaxing or otherwise is entirely personal preference. However for me, when I wanted to sleep, either at night or some obscure time of the day I put this on quietly on repeat:

*drifts off like a ship being put out to sea...*

[shadowpath]

Oh, I also submit http://www.rainymood.com/ for listening with music or just to use as white noise

[murphy dee]

The album "Winds Across the Water" by White Eisenstein. I swear by it. When I was little kid I would put it in my tape player before bed and I'd be out. Now I have it on CD and on nights when I just need to relax or can't sleep, I put it on and totally melt away. It's really smooth and beautiful and peaceful (and instrumental!). Maybe I just have a Pavlovian reaction to it at this point, haha...but seriously, it's wonderful sleep music if you can find the album.

[Shay]

Well it really depends on what you like and find personally relaxing. I find a lot of meditation, new age, and ambient music to be very relaxing. You can find a ton of that stuff on Youtube if you search for it. I'm also very fond of a company called Sequoia Records who have a large selection of meditation/ambient albums. In addition if you sign up for their free newsletter then you will get informed of sales and discounts and you will receive 1 free MP3 per month. http://www.sequoiarecords.com/newsletter-subscribe.html

[Zebra]

Wow, so many replies! Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate the links too! I've put most of the songs on my iPod however I still have a few left to do. The music hasn't worked too well yet but I've been stressed out so there's still hope. I really liked the story writing idea however it's as if I'm in a void where I'm non-functional but I can't fall asleep either so I'm finding it difficult to engage my brain . I would go through my whole day however at the moment it consists of waking up, eating, internet and trying to study which is the trigger anyway. I may try the exercise thing too although my problem is time rationing (and general laziness) however I suppose it's better to sacrifice an hour rather than my health.

I've listened to music for a few years to keep my mind off of worrying about sleeping and it has worked pretty well up until now (but I do play a few instruments very basically so I guess I'm not much of a musician ).

Sorry if I seem fairly dry, I'm like a zombie right now but I'm genuinely grateful for all of the suggestions! I'm going to give everything a stab because surely something HAS to work (even if Richard Burton's droning voice or anything related to Plaid Cymru is the solution ).

Also, thank you for the luck, Giant Steps! I'm actually getting closer to not caring but I keep telling myself it'll be worth it in the end (not the stressing but the effort)!

[March Hare]

Better sacrifice a couple of hours to making yourself feel better. You know why? Because being well-rested is actually far more likely to make you do well on a test than studying for 1726348563 hours. If you're well-rested and well-fed, you'll be better able to take in what you're reading AND to reproduce it on the test.

So. Put those books away and get thee outside in thy running shoes! It'll help.

[Jorm]

I don't really have any music suggestions, but have you tried melatonin?

[snuffle-bunny]

Have you tried abdominal breathing? I use it when I want to relax; lie on your back, put one hand on your abdomen between your navel and your groin, and as you breathe in, breathe so that your abdomen pushes against your hand. Kind of the opposite of the "stomach in, chest out" way of breathing. It drops your diaphragm and lets you fill your lungs properly, and I find that if I concentrate on that for a while, I can drift off to sleep easily.

[Zebra]

Haha thank you, Maru-Chan. That made a lot of sense and I kinda wish I'd prioritized rest because I've sat most of my exams so far running on Powerade energy which wasn't the best of ideas .

I had to Google Melatonin but I've been trying to stay away from anything like that because I think I have quite an addictive personality. I know that if I get hooked on something like that I'll end up using it constantly even when my stress levels reduce. It looks really effective though so I might ask my parents if I can trial it.

The breathing thing sounds good too because it'll be distracting. I think the fear of not getting to sleep is strengthening the insomnia so I'm going to try and incorporate everything to create a self-induced placebo effect (hopefully!!).

So far I haven't been able to measure the success rate properly because I've been staying up really late to cram so this week will be the decider.

Thank you, everybody!

[The Dead One]

The most relaxing songs I've found are Medwyn Goodall's Temple Journey,

and New Earth Music from Dragon Ball Z

[shadowpath]

I had to Google Melatonin but I've been trying to stay away from anything like that because I think I have quite an addictive personality. I know that if I get hooked on something like that I'll end up using it constantly even when my stress levels reduce. It looks really effective though so I might ask my parents if I can trial it.

Pure Melatonin is actually a natural supplement, so it is worth looking into.

[Jorm]

I had to Google Melatonin but I've been trying to stay away from anything like that because I think I have quite an addictive personality. I know that if I get hooked on something like that I'll end up using it constantly even when my stress levels reduce. It looks really effective though so I might ask my parents if I can trial it.

Pure Melatonin is actually a natural supplement, so it is worth looking into.

It's also non-addictive at least in chemical terms. You could become depend on it psychologically, as with anything else, but it's not physically addictive and as far as I know has no significant side effects.

[murphy dee]

Have you tried abdominal breathing? I use it when I want to relax; lie on your back, put one hand on your abdomen between your navel and your groin, and as you breathe in, breathe so that your abdomen pushes against your hand. Kind of the opposite of the "stomach in, chest out" way of breathing. It drops your diaphragm and lets you fill your lungs properly, and I find that if I concentrate on that for a while, I can drift off to sleep easily.

Wait, do people normally NOT breathe abdominally? I don't know any other way to breathe that isn't awkward and an unnecessary effort. D: (Then again I took singing lessons for most of my childhood so maybe that has something to do with it?)

[Shay]

When I was a child someone(don't remember who) told me that you shouldn't breathe abdominally and that it was better to breathe through the chest. So that was how I breathed the majority of my life. Then when I started getting into some guided meditation type stuff I was surprised that it actually instructed me to breathe abdominally. It was something that took awhile to learn to do properly, but I've gotten much better at it. However when I'm not meditating/doing breathing exercises my default is still to breathe through my chest. For some reason I also find it harder to breathe abdominally depending on what position I'm in. I find it quite hard to breathe abdominally if if I'm sitting up straight, but it's somewhat easier if I'm either reclined a bit or leaning forward a bit, and it's easiest if I'm lying down on my back.

[Zebra]

Sorry I've left this but I haven't had much time to come online. As for the addiction thing, I meant psychologically unfortunately. You know Vicks Vapour Rub? Well I got into the mindset that I couldn't go to sleep unless I put it on, regardless of whether I actually needed it or not for months and had to wean myself off of it *insert the laughing/awkward emoji here because I can't find it*.  

I've realised that I breathe from my diaphragm too but I also did a bit of singing so I think that contributes. 

 So far I think my insomnia has mellowed to a level that I can handle. I'm still running on less sleep but I'm used to it so whatever. Thanks again, everyone !

[nolongeractive]

I'm sorry I didn't read all the comments, so I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but ASMR videos are great! Some of my favorite YouTube ASMR users are GentleWhispering, CaligayWhispers, TheWaterWhispers, VeniVidiVulpes, JuneYankee, ThePrincessWhispers, Savannahsvoice, ASMRMassage, the drawing video from ironmonkey007, hand relaxation from whispersweetie, and hand relaxation from Cutebunny9924ever. Oxfordjasmine's facial video, if you follow along as well, can make me incredibly tired, as well as other massage videos.

Watching Japanese food videos by RRcherrypie and Marimo Marshmallow can make me sleepy, too, as well as videos of animals being pet.

Sometimes just listening to the sounds of rain can be really relaxing, too, and there are lots of those on YouTube.

Hope this helps!