A few days back, one of my friends said he couldn’t sleep well without listening to music with his earbuds.
At that time, a question came into my mind: is it bad to sleep with headphones on your ear?
Then after a lot of research, I found that listening to music with headphones before going to bed is ok. But if you keep the device on every night while sleeping, it may harm you more than the benefits.
In this write-up, I will tell you what I have learned about the headphone safety issue. So, let’s start.
Is It Bad To Sleep With Headphones On?
A simple way to answer this question is, yes, it’s quite harmful to sleep with headphones.
So, what happens if you wear headphones while sleeping? Here are some disadvantages you can face-
1. Risk Of Excessive Earwax
If you sleep on your side with earphones, the nodes go deeply on your eardrums. That blocks the ear circulation and presses wax into the eardrum. Therefore, it creates excessive earwax.
2. Otitis Externa Might Happen
Otitis externa is an ear condition that causes inflammation in the tube between the outer ear and eardrum called the ear canal.
It’s an extremely painful condition that sometimes leads to hearing damage. Usually, it happens when you wear headphones for a long time.
3. Causes Necrosis Or Skin Death
If you use an unfitted earphone for a long period, it can traumatize your ear tissues. Therefore, repeatedly doing the same thing can permanently damage the cells, known as Necrosis or skin death.
4. Headphones Wrapped Around Neck
This is the disadvantage that only wired-headphone owners should be concerned about. A typical headphone with wire sometimes can wrap around the neck and strangle you in your sleep.
However, it doesn’t create that extreme situation. There is no record of death by headphones while sleeping. Although it’s a horrible situation and you might get a nearly-death experience.
5. Hearing Loss
Excessive use of headphones does not bring a good result to your hearing ability. There is a probability of ear damage for the rest of your life.
In a word, a simple habit of sleeping with headphones can create this type of or even worst situation.
Despite knowing these disadvantages, some people still want to sleep with earphones in. Do you know why? The next segment will give you the answer.
Why Do People Find It Comfortable To Sleep With Earphones In?
Like my friend, falling asleep while music is on becomes a habit for some people. They find it helpful to get a good rest.
Some of them even can’t sleep without listening to music, podcast, or radio shows, although they know the after-effects.
However, sleeping with headphones also has some benefits that you can’t deny. Now, I’m going to enlighten you with those facts. Take a look below.
1. Get Rid Of Unwanted Noise
One of the significant advantages of headphones is that it blocks all the environmental noises. Especially, the noise-canceling headphone prevents all types of sounds from reaching you.
Peoples in cities or towns sometimes don’t have a quiet neighborhood. In this case, headphones help them to get a sound sleep.
On the other hand, you can wear earphones while traveling. It can prevent the noise of the engine and other vehicles.
2. Feeling Relaxed And Happy
Research shows that good music can calm your mind. It can lower your breathing and heart rate, which are important to fall asleep.
Besides, listening to music while sleeping produces more serotonin hormone, which makes us feel happy.
3. A Great Solution For Insomnia
There are some music and sounds that are created specifically for treating insomnia patients. The frequency collaborates with brain signals and gives a good vibe to the person.
So, sometimes bedtime music with headphones can even cure their condition.
In the meantime, we see the bad result of sleeping with headphones on, but still, some people willingly take this way.
Therefore, it’s better to follow the safe methods mentioned below if you can’t resist yourself.
Some Safe Way For Sleeping With Earphones In
Though it’s not entirely risk-free, there are some solutions that you might apply to put on the headphone while sleeping. They are as follows-
1. Use A Sleeping- Friendly Headphone
Basically, the sleeping-friendly headphones are lightweight and do not come out from the ear easily.
So that the users barely feel anything and the devices do not come off from the head. Several types of headphones are available in the market that is safe to wear while sleeping. They are-
2. Wireless Headphones
A typical wireless headphone can work as a sleeping-friendly device since the headphones can’t choke you in your sleep with the wire.
3. Headband Headphone
This type of headphone looks like a regular sports headband. But it contains a pair of padded speakers inside. The headband headphone generally controls with Bluetooth.
It is an easy-to-use and very light tool. However, if you feel discomfort putting anything around your head, you might be finding it difficult to use.
4. Sleep Earbuds
Earbuds for sleeping are low-profile earphones with soft silicone tips. These are made in such a way that they can follow the shape of your ear.
Now that you know how to lay down with headphones now you might ask, is there any way to use the old-style regular headphones in bed?
The answers are, yes, you can do it just by simply maintain your sleeping position. Look at the following point to see how you can do it.
5. Sleep On Your Back
Usually, we put pressure on our ears while laying down on our side. And sleeping with headphones in the head creates more force on it.
Therefore, if we sleep on our back, we can put on any earphones without pressuring our ears.
However, if you are a side-sleeper and don’t want to change your sleeping position, then you can try out the next option.
6. Get A Specialized Pillow
There are some specialized pillows for sleeping with headphones available in the market. They look like almost a regular pillow but contain a hole in the middle.
Usually, patients who have gone through ear surgery or suffering from any ear diseases use this type of pillow. Yet, a normal person can use the hole to put the headphone in so that it will not create any pressure on the eardrums.
By the time you get, there are some ways for sleeping with earphones in your ear that might lessen the harmful effect. But will you still go for these ways if your children are involved?
Should You Let Your Children Sleeping With Headphones?
Since children are sensitive to any electric devices, you should rethink whether you will allow them to sleep with headphones.
Even if you apply the safest ways mentioned earlier, there is a high chance that the after-effects won’t be good.
Moreover, kids are vulnerable in nature, so listening to music for a long time can damage their hearing, let alone wearing an earphone.
So, we should prevent kids from sleeping with music on earphones for their own good from the very beginning.
So, basically for kids and adults also it’s better to search for an alternative, right?
Check out the following part to know about the alternatives.
Alternative To Headphones That You Can Apply
There are some alternatives that you can apply for sleeping with music on but without using an earphone.
You can apply these if your sleeping nature is connected with only music, not the devices that play them.
1. Play Music On Loudspeaker
The first one is the easiest and simplest thing to do. You can simply use your mobile phone’s loudspeaker for playing music and keep the phone beside your bed.
But the fact is, usually mobile phone’s loudspeaker can’t provide a smooth listening experience.
So, if you need a highly musical environment, you can rely on a stereo system for the same purpose.
2. Set Up A Stereo System
A stereo system is a dream of many people like me who admire a high-end musical setup. With a medium budget, you can arrange a musical environment in your room.
Not only it gives you a shooting experience, but it also has fewer side effects on you compare to the other musical devices.
3. Use A Bluetooth Speaker
If you want an indoor solution, then a stereo system is the best. But if you need a movable one, you may go for a Bluetooth speaker as you can take this device anywhere you want.
But unfortunately, Bluetooth headphones also arouse a big controversy. The next part will tell you the details.
Are Bluetooth Headphones Safe While Sleeping?
The fact is, the Bluetooth technology is a questionable fact. It works with radio frequency. And it is proven with scientific experiments that the radiation rate is not low too.
As a result, peoples are having brain tumors, DNA damages, and other radiation-related illnesses.
Moreover, Bluetooth technology causes cancer too. For these reasons, doctors advise us to use Bluetooth as little as possible.
So, it’s highly unrecommended to use Bluetooth headphones while sleeping.
In the end, we can see no musical arrangements are completely harmless. Besides, you might share your room with others who don’t like any sound while sleeping.
By keeping these things in mind, how about we go for a solution that is non-musical? In the next segment, you will see how you can do that.
Non-musical Alternative To Headphone To Get A Good Sleep
We should try our best to avoid gadgets as much as possible and build a habit of sleeping naturally. The following points show some of the best ways to do that.
1. Change Lifestyle
You can gradually change your lifestyle and reduce your dependency on music. First and foremost, habits can be changed if you are determined.
So, try to focus on other variables for sleeping. Like, keep your room dark, set a comfortable temperature, and most importantly, stop using electronic gadgets a few hours before going to bed.
2. Meditate Before Sleeping
Meditation can calm your mind and remove all the anxiety. That’s how it can help you to fall asleep and have a good nap.
3. Do A Light Exercise Before Going To Bed
Excessive workout makes it hard to fall asleep, but the effect of light exercise is totally different. It can lower your heartbeat. Therefore, with a relaxed mind, you can sleep better.
4. Make A Healthy Food Habit
Extra caffeine makes it harder to sleep. So, it would be helpful for you if you avoid drinking coffee after the evening.
5. Spend Some Time Reading Books
Maybe this the oldest method that peoples from past centuries applied during their life.
Still, it’s one of the most practical and effective ways to sleep. Reading books can relieve your anxiety.
Besides, focusing on some lines and trying to understand them can make your brain feel tired. Thus, you will fall asleep faster.
Conclusion
We have come to the end of our article. I hope now you get the answer: Is It Bad to Sleep with Headphones on or not?
Here, we see the possible outcome of wearing headphones while sleeping. And that clearly shows how harmful it can be.
Therefore, at the end of the article, I’ve also suggested some alternatives that I found while researching.
Hopefully, you will try them, and you don’t have to rely on earphones to sleep anymore.
