I Haven't Been Sleeping Well Lately, but This 2-Hour Album Helped Me
My recent lack of sleep could be related to many factors: a busy schedule, not having a sleep mask to cover my eyes, or an astrological positioning of the planets and stars. Ideally, I’d love to spend at least two nights of the week in bed before midnight, but I tend to be a night owl.
Taking a recommended dosage of melatonin or spraying a hint of lavender fragrance on my pillow doesn’t always seem to help, and I’m super close to trying a “sleepy girl mocktail.” But fortunately, I discovered a melodic solution that’s working well: a two-hour sleep album.
As I was scrolling through my Instagram feed, I noticed that R&B singer-songwriters Kehlani and Jhené Aiko were collaborating on a lullaby album. Sleep Soul: Volume 4, released on February 22, is a relaxing combination of white, brown, and pink noise sonically engineered to soothe you (and your baby!) to sleep. According to their website, their goal is to “create more variety and diversity in the baby sleep music space,” in addition to helping “the next generation of parents find the best and most effective methods for putting and keeping their babies to sleep.”
To my surprise, this is actually Aiko’s fifth album composed of lullaby music. I’m not familiar with lullaby music beyond “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” but I was open to playing through the album after Kehlani announced their attachment to the project.
I’ve never listened to any music before sleeping, primarily because I selfishly didn’t want my Spotify profile filled with random artists and playlists. But the thought of experimenting with different sounds piqued my curiosity enough to add Sleep Soul to my queue for the evening.
During my first listen, I fell asleep toward the beginning of the two-hour album. The cozy lullabies intertwine sounds of nature, rain, and hushed instruments. None of the tracks really stood out to me, as I was trying to focus on sleeping, but the lyric-less music definitely lured me to sleep.
After the first night, I scrambled to my journal to write down anything about my sleep patterns. I didn’t feel too rested, but I felt relaxed. This inspired me to give the album another listen the following night, but I started it a bit earlier than the previous evening. Swapping out my nightly doom-scrolling routine for a chapter of my current book helped, and I definitely felt a difference the next morning.
I accidentally forgot to play the album for the next few nights, but I didn’t notice an extreme difference. From my understanding, my sleeping habits require more work: less screen time, better eating habits at night, and intentionally going to bed earlier. My path to developing better restful routines isn’t an overnight journey — but Sleep Soul is a good start.
Over the past weekend I slept well, thanks to this album. I can’t say if it’s going to help me in the long run, but it’s been a great addition to my nighttime routine. And it’s definitely given me an open mindset about listening to white noise and purchasing a machine that specializes in soothing sleep sounds.
