Why music helps us switch off
Of course, if your neighbhourhood is noisy, music will help mask that noise pollution. But there’s more. Our brains also respond physically.
According to the Sleep Foundation, listening to calming music lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol while increasing dopamine – the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. It also calms the autonomic nervous system, slowing breathing, lowering heart rate and reducing blood pressure: exactly the physiological state your body needs to drift into sleep.
Four ways to make Judi’s bedtime trick work for you
If you’d like to give it a try tonight, sleep experts recommend keeping a few simple rules in mind:
- Choose slow music. Aim for around 60 to 80 beats per minute.
- Keep it simple. Instrumental music or gentle classical pieces tend to outperform complex, high-energy tracks.
- Pick something familiar. Music with happy memories attached can feel especially soothing.
- Let someone else choose. Classic FM has several bedtime playlists, including its calming Baby Bedtime collection, if you’d rather not spend half an hour scrolling before bed.
Dame Judi herself has long loved Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, which was her late husband Michael Williams’ favourite piece.
‘I remember once being at Nottingham Playhouse and going out one day with friends and stopping and lying in a cornfield and looking up and hearing the larks,’ she told Zeb Soames. There’s something to dream about.
