| What do Kokoon users listen to? | The Science of Rain Sounds | Our Rainy Playlist |
Last year, art-pop musician Grimes shared to her Instagram story that her most listened-to song of 2019 was Lluvia PQ’s “Rain All Night” - a track which has amassed over 27 million listens.
And Grimes wasn’t the only one: there are a plethora of articles written by students, academics, sports players and regular folk, discussing how much their Spotify algorithms have been tweaked by digging out soothing, sleep-inducing nature sounds’ playlists. Medium even dedicated a whole article to reviewing individual rain sounds.
But why are rain tracks so good for sleep?
When people write about rain sounds, it’s often nostalgia and comfort they think of first. Sounds of light showers on tents reminding us of childhood sleepovers in the garden, or heavy downpours into gutters bringing back memories of that rain-filled trip to Costa Rica in storm season.
Here at Kokoon, our Content Creator Becca likes a little thunder in her sleep sounds:
“It seems very simple to say, ‘I listen to rain sounds to sleep,’ but I’m pretty fussy and it took a long time to find the right track to fall asleep to. There has to be some rumbling thunder in the distance, but not too much - and no huge lightning cracks to jolt me back awake. I like a little forest-y ambience going on, maybe the sounds of big rain plops falling off leaves in there somewhere. It’s like my brain adds all the right audio ingredients and the cake at the end is sleep.”
Maisie, our Copywriter, says:
“No thunderstorms for me. They make me feel a little on edge. Instead, I love the sounds of light and sometimes heavier rain falling on the ground. It makes me feel cosy when I’m wrapped up warm in bed.”
Meanwhile Michael, our Data Scientist, enjoys listening to the sound of rain on the outside of a tent, whereas our CTO Rich likes the sound of rain against a bedroom window. No two rain sounds are the same, and no two rain sound preferences are the same either!
Listening to rain might well be a beneficial tool in distracting us from unwanted thoughts, allowing us to daydream ourselves to sleep with a clear mind, thinking only of peaceful places elsewhere.
What makes rain sounds right for sleep is the pitch, tempo, and consistency of sound which scientifically offers us comfort.
Similar to the hum of white noise, rain sounds are considered pink noise. It has less of the higher frequencies of white noise, and less of the lower frequencies of brown noise - sitting right in the middle of the spectrum of sounds. A National Library of Medicine study found that listening to pink noise increased deep sleep and improved memory in older adults.
So switch off your pinging phone and tune in to the downpours or pitter patters of rain - the choice is yours. Your sleep will thank you.
Kokoon has made it easier to find your favorite rain sounds, by curating a playlist of our favorites. The playlist includes a number of softer, heavier, thundery and ambient sounds - helping you to find exactly what you need to drift off to sleep. Listen to the playlist now!
