Silence
Sleep. The little death that brings joy. We all love it and we also don’t get enough of it. I feel something so wonderful deserves the most conducive environment.
To pervade such sacred slumber with strange noises is heresy. I’m being dramatic, but you get the point. Genuinely, what’s up with the white noise folk? Whale noises, rainfall, and apparently thunder?
You know what’s free, easy to listen to, and extremely relaxing?
Silence!
The calming, soothing sounds of nothing at all ease your mind into that extremely important rest that it deserves. But I can get scientific if you need some more proof. “Noise as a sleep aid: A systematic review” by Riedy SM, Smith MG, Rocha S, and Basner M. shows us that “the quality of evidence for continuous noise improving sleep was very low, which contradicts its widespread use.” I’m cherry-picking research papers to help me and ignoring other research. True journalistic integrity.
Also, in case you forgot:
- You’re in college.
- You’re sharing a dorm with other people.
One has to be considerate of the space they share with others, and playing noises to help you fall asleep might not be doing your roommate any favors. Like mine isn’t when he plays Scooby-Doo as white noise.
I can respect fan and air conditioning white noise folks, because it comes with the territory, but it’s all a matter of personal preference in the end. If white noise is something that relaxes you and your roommate is cool with it, then blast it all you want. But you can’t convince me white noise is superior. All I need to sleep is darkness, silence, and the A.C. set to Antarctic levels of freezing.
In fact, I think I hear my bed calling me right now.
White Noise
As a proud grandmother, I’ve perfected my nighttime routine of hot tea, reading, and lights out in my cold, dark room, at exactly 10 p.m.
Predictably, my perfect routine is subject to the many complications of college. Not only are late nights to complete assignments an expectation, but, when I finally get into bed, roommates and the energy of St. Olaf’s campus means an endless amount of light and noise entering through my window and under the door disrupting my circadian rhythm.
My solution? White noise.
Once I began to appreciate the addition of white noise, I haven’t gone back since. Not only does it cover up the campus buzz, but also the noises of roommates, family members in hotel rooms on vacation, trains, and anxious racing thoughts bombarding you as soon as you close your eyes.
Some will argue that white noise distracts from sleep, but the real distraction is everything going on around us. We need some extra help getting a good night’s sleep and silence just doesn’t cut it anymore. White noise and an eye mask can lull me to sleep within a few minutes of my head hitting the pillow and keep me asleep until I wake up to repeat the cycle all over again.
Joel Tauro
