Classical Music as an Aid to Sleep ?

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magpens

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Any suggestions ?

Here it is 5:15 am. . I have been awake for 1.5 hours after hitting the sack at midnight. .
I guess I am up to stay . . Might try some turning, rather than carry on with this "tossing and turning" !!!

For the last couple of months, I have been using some Classical music (mostly Mozart) as an aid to getting to sleep and getting back to sleep after nightly excursions.

Usually I get to sleep OK, but getting back to sleep has recently been problematic. . I have a programmable CD player which cycles through my selections (from one CD) continuously through the night. . My selections of preference are Mozart's "Adagio" and "Andante" movements from his Concertos ( mellow music without wild excursions of volume or tempo ). . I prefer strings ( violin, cello, .... ) and woodwinds ( clarinet, oboe, ... ) but also like some piano that is not too staccato.

Anybody got any specific suggestions ? . ( I can be more specific about my current selections, if you wish. )

Any favorite music selections and/or composers ? . In addition to my Mozart, I have quite a bit of Beethoven but he is generally a bit "noisy" for me.

I want to avoid medicinal sleep inducement . .
For years when I was working I took some prescription meds in moderation . . Don't want that now when daytime naps are more "acceptable" !

Would be nice to get more than 3.5 hrs of sleep per night.
 
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I use an app on my phone called White Noise. It actually has a wonderful de selection of other sounds in addition to white noise. Presently I use a sound a sound that imitates the background noise of being in an airplane.
 
Yo Yo Ma: Bach Solo Cello Suites
Debussy: Clair de Lune
Debussy: Suite bergamasque
Elgar: Variations on an Original Theme
Barber: Adagio for Strings

I'd list more, but I'm getting sleepy... šŸ„±
 
Well I'm not a Classical kind of guy so I won't go there. I've been doing what you described for quite a while. I've tried over the counter meds that didn't do much at night but made me groggy the next day so I stopped those. Trying those was my wife's suggestion. I figured since I'm retired with no set schedule why worry. I'm not one that takes naps but I do dose off the the recliner once in a while. And no it's not that often. Ha Ha. I try not to watch a lot of TV because I don't want the habit of doing so everyday. I've found that if I wake up in the middle of the night and I get concerned about going back to sleep then I'm awake thinking about that. I'll listen to whatever music I like to hear not necessarily sleep music or just random You Tube Videos. If I get bored with that I'll get up and play with pen stuff. Just a guess but maybe the older I get the less sleep I really need. If that's not the case maybe the older I get the closer I get to a permanent sleep so I'd better take advantage of being awake now!!!!
 
Though not classical music, I use an App called Naturespace. The sound of rain, wind, campfires, waves, trains, etc., help me drift off.
 
Mal, I went under the care of a Psychologist who specialized in helping people remove chronic pain from their life. I went from two decades of heavy, heavy meds to no pain meds. The process is the Neuroplastic approach: one can "rewire" their own brain IOT be rid of the persistent pain. That is all background info. The item shown below provides music which is selected by Neuroscientists, and targeted to be pleasurable and soothing to the brain. It was a useful component to my recovery from persistent pain. I believe it may help with your sleep issues. The website, neuroplastix.com is (The Pain Relief Site), offers this under products, as well as the other typical sources for music download. Maybe this can help.

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We used to pipe in classical music when I was in the Navy and worked in the Operating Room. Kept a lot of the hot head surgeons calm, except the one who hated it. He used to bring in his reel to reel loaded with Cuban music (Spanish) and let it blare away once the patient was asleep. Then every once in a while he'd jump back, do a little dance ditty, and then get back to work. I laughed my a%$ off every time he did his little dance. He was an excellent surgeon too and I never saw him lose his temper or throw stuff. I was the senior tech in the room and all the students dreaded coming into my service because of him, they never got it, but man was he fun in the OR.
That's where I learned to appreciate classical music...and Spanish. Maybe instead of music you should get up and dance around a bitšŸ¤£
 
Maybe a noise generator. You can get babbling brook, thunder storm, etc. I use Melatonin from time to find and find it safe and fairly effective.
 
Music didn't work for us. White noise neither.

Mike Rowe narrating "How the Universe Works" & using the sleep timer of the tv. According to Mike Rowe, we're not alone in our use of the narrations for this purpose. It takes 3-4 nights to make it through each episode.
 
Mal, there are 2 stations I switch between on Pandora.
1 - Dan Gibson, Solitudes
2 - Rain and Thunder

I like Dan Gibson cause it will have nature sounds mixed with music.
 
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