Let’s look at what the research says
Binaural beats! By now, chances are you’ve heard of this craze sweeping the world of pop psychology. This prompted a super common question: what are binaural beats? The name isn’t super descriptive, so sometimes it’s difficult to figure out quite what they are, even after an explanation!
A lot of people also like to claim that they’re super helpful for creativity, focus, and, most importantly, sleep. So, what really are binaural beats, and are they actually as useful as people say? Let’s explore.
Binaural beats are sort of an offshoot of the white noise genre of sound that rely on both of your ears hearing a different frequency. Let’s say you have on a pair of studio headphones, and, in one ear, a pitch is being played. Then, in the other ear, a different pitch is being played. The second constant stream of sound on one single note is just slightly different from the first. It will just be a little higher or a little lower. You can test it out with this YouTube video.
When you hear these two beats playing at the same time, it creates a wobbly effect in your brain. The pictures are fighting for dominance in your senses. This is the same type of wobbling sound that you’d hear if you were in a car on the highway with one window open, but binaural beats aren’t going to cause headaches like that would.
You can get a similar wobbling sound without the headphones, as this is what happens when you hear any two sustained pitches that are just a little too similar. The difference with binaural beats is that the wobbling is created in your mind. If you don’t have headphones on, the binaural beat wobble will happen in the air around you, and it will enter both sides of your brain equally through each year. If you just play them into the ears individually, though, through headphones, you’ll construct the wobble in your own brain.
A lot of people online have made the claim that binaural beats have a ton of positive psychological effects, depending on the frequencies you use. Some of these effects include:
These all sound like incredible benefits to doing something pretty simple. Typically, though, when faced with this sort of catchall list, the effects seem too good to be true. Is that the case with binaural beats?
The problem with binaural beats is that they really just haven’t been studied enough. Generally, the answer you get to this question is that the results are inconclusive. Any study you find on binaural beats that comes from a reputable source isn’t going to be able to give you a straight answer. They just aren’t studied enough to justify making these claims.
More recently, even tried and true methods of getting to sleep, like white noise, have come under scrutiny. Some research has suggested that trying to use noise to get to sleep, like white, pink, brown, or dark, can actually be disruptive to your sleeping patterns, rather than helpful.
Of course, we can always rely on our good old friend, the placebo effect. If binaural beats do work for you, and make you feel better or help you sleep, there’s nothing wrong with continuing to use them. No negative health side effects have been found, so there’s no known danger in continuing to use them. If they help you fall asleep, then keep using them. If, on the other hand, you’re using them to help with something like ADHD or depression, then you should start talking to a psychologist who will be able to help you more by tackling the root of the issue.
If sleep is still an issue for you, there are plenty of ways to tackle a difficult sleep schedule without the use of binaural beats.
Of course, when trying to solve any sleep issue, the first answer is always to limit screen time. This absolutely does work. The best way to help yourself fall asleep better use to cut yourself off from blue light at least two hours before you go to sleep. In a perfect world, everyone will be able to do this. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily realistic based on the way a lot of jobs work now.
For instance, I am a student with a remote job. All business is done through email and all schoolwork is done through the Internet. I am, out of necessity, on a screen from 9 AM to 12 AM. Of course, that’s a bit hyperbolic, but there are still times that, on a good day, I would start and stop using the screen. Some people's schedules just don’t line up with a healthy sleep schedule, and trying to reschedule around that can be difficult, so what are some other great ways to fall asleep?
Some of the best ways to work on your sleep are:
Box breathing is the classic calm down technique that will make sure you’re out pretty quickly. For box breathing, all you have to do is breathing for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breathe out for four seconds, and pause for four seconds.
This, and other grounding exercises that involve breathing, are some of the simplest ways to get calm enough for sleep fast. However, these are really just exercises to make you feel less active. They won’t necessarily put you to sleep. If, after box breathing, you still lay awake in the night, you should move on to something a little more hard-core.
I know this one sounds insane, but just hear it out. Pick a high number, usually 100 or 200, and then, to a slow and steady beat, countdown to zero.
This technique relies on a couple of things. First, the steady beat will help you sync your internal rhythm, like your heartbeat, something slow and sleep ready. It’s also boring. If your brain is relaxed enough to be ready for sleep, but isn’t quite there (yet) counting backwards would be a great, undisruptive distraction that will let the rest of your mind and body. Focus on calming down.
There is still a problem with this method, though. It relies primarily on boredom, which is difficult to maintain with a brain that is still active. In a pinch, you can try to combine this with box breathing by starting with the breathing to bring you down, and then continuing with the steady backwards, counting to actually put you to sleep. These methods, though, should mostly only be used if your sleep schedule is the issue.
Now we are really tackling the root of the issue. Music therapy may have gotten super popular in psychology recently, but it’s been around for much longer than a lot of people realize. We’ve known for thousands of years that music can have positive and calming effects on the body. The earliest traces of modern music therapy go back to the early 20th century, and tons of recent research has backed up the claims music therapy is an overall very helpful process.
There are plenty of different kinds of music therapy, and you can participate in them at all different levels of musical knowledge. This isn’t just limited to people who play instruments. It involves listening to music, lyrical analysis, rhythmic movement, and sometimes even coming up with your own songs. All you have to do is tell your music therapist the kind of music you like, and then participate in their activities.
Music is super helpful for sleep. No, listening to music as you fall asleep may not be the best plan, as we saw earlier with the issues of white noise, but experiencing the more controlled environment of music therapy regularly can dramatically alter your ability to set a good sleep schedule. Listening to calming music has an impact on how your brain releases chemicals, especially by limiting the release of cortisol, the stress hormone, and increasing the release of dopamine, one of the happiness hormones. If you can play an instrument, these effects will be even greater.
Working with a music therapist will give you tons of tactics for sleep, as, if that’s one of your problems, the music therapist will specifically look for ways to improve it.
Overall, the question of whether or not binaural beats can help with sleep, doesn’t really have a great answer. There’s no research that’s able to give a resounding yes. If it helps you, then there’s no shame in continuing to use it. Just remember the potential dangers of playing sound while you sleep that we see from white noise. There are plenty of alternatives for getting to sleep, but you’re probably not gonna find anything better than music therapy.
