Q. For more than 40 years, I have needed
to use a white-noise machine to get to sleep. Should I worry?
A. “There isn’t much science behind the
white-noise effect in inducing sleep, except for its use to block other
intruding sounds,” said Dr. Ana Krieger, the medical director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
Medical Center.
In this
case, Dr. Krieger said, the person may have become acclimated to the sound
generated by the machine, which is not a problem in itself unless the machine
delivers a loud sound. “Chronic exposure to noise is not beneficial to our
health, as it may induce the release of stress hormones and interfere with
cardiovascular health,” she said.
When loud sounds are detected by the brain during sleep, they
often interfere with sleep architecture and quality, Dr. Krieger said, and
white-noise equipment can then be used to diminish or disguise environmental
noise. Many machines also deliver soothing and softer sounds instead of or in
addition to random white noise; some other alternatives, Dr. Krieger said, are
opening a window, turning on a ceiling fan, turning on a radio and tuning it
between stations at low volume, or programming soothing sounds on a smartphone.
Fuente: question@nytimes.com, The New York Times
Autor: Claiborne Ray
