Can This Type of Music Help with Sleep, Anxiety, and Pain?

You often hear the phrase, "you are what you eat," as what you eat ultimately affects your physical and mental well-being. But could the same be said about music?

There's no doubt that music has a powerful effect on our minds, but what if we told you that there is a certain genre of music that's gotten the attention of researchers for stuff like sleep quality, managing anxiety, and even dealing with pain?

Below, we cover everything you need to know about ambient music's potential benefits, as well as its history, types, and tips for integrating it into your day. Let's go!

Ambient music, sometimes just called "ambient," is a form of instrumental music that emphasizes tone, mood, and atmosphere. This is in contrast to pop music, which emphasizes formal melodies and consistent rhythms for a more engaging listening experience.

Ambient music can work as a type of "texture" for an environment, a piece of background noise at cafes, art shows, yoga studios, libraries, and even airports. Many enthusiasts leave ambient music on at home or throw it on their headphones.

There is a wide range of ambient music genres (which we'll go over later) and a wide range of musical instruments used to make ambient music, such as pianos, clarinets, synthesizers, and samplers.

People often credit English musician Brian Eno for inventing ambient music, as he first coined and defined the term in the record sleeve for his 1979 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports, stating:

However, earlier artists and composers such as Erik Satie have taken similar approaches to music, who in the 1920s came up with "musique d'ameublement," or in English, "furniture music," which were simple pieces intended as background music for relaxing or dining.

Ambient music came about at the right time. During the 1980s, music companies began to release the first mass-produced synths, and audio effects associated with ambient music became more widely affordable and accessible. As the tools for ambient music production spread, so did various subgenres of ambient music, which continue to sprout up to this day.

In theory, ambient music is about delivering calmness and introspection. But is there anything out there that backs up this notion? 

In 2023, college students participated in an experiment assessing the effects of sleep ambient music intervention (SAMI). Subjects underwent one week under normal conditions to establish a baseline, followed by four weeks of music intervention (listening to ambient music while going to sleep).

The overall results were:

Overall, improvements in sleep quality began within three days of SAMI, and the long-term benefits arose after three weeks.

In 2014, researchers at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, studied the effects of ambient music on patients who had undergone cancer-related surgery. Each of the patients had reported similar levels of anxiety, pain, and irritation linked to the noises in the hospital.

Half of the patients in the study received an MP3 player containing ambient music and were encouraged to listen to it for at least half an hour after taking their twice-daily medicine. After three days of implementing this practice, the patients who had listened to the ambient music experienced better pain management and were less annoyed by noises in the hospital.

Like any genre of music, ambient music has many different subgenres. If you want to check out ambient music, try the Essentials playlist and some other subgenres below.

That covers it for our blog on ambient music and its potential benefits. Ambient music, developed in the late 1970s, differs from pop music in that it blends more into the background of our everyday settings. There are some interesting findings with ambient music regarding calming anxiety, easing pain, and getting better sleep. Like other types of musical genres, there are different ambient music styles worth enjoying. And, of course, cannabis pairs exceptionally well with ambient music.

So, perhaps the next time you're doing chores or working from home, trying to unwind, or maybe just looking to ease discomfort, throw on some ambient tunes and enjoy it with freedom you can taste.