In my never ending search for a good night’s sleep I’ve tried everything short of prescription drugs: Melatonin, teas to promote sleep, putting my phone away a couple of hours before bedtime, deep breathing exercises, and meditation. Nothing really works. Occasionally I’ll take a dose of a nighttime cold medicine, and sometimes that helps, but I don’t like doing it.
Often I’ll ask my Alexa to play relaxing music, but whoever programs such material must not understand that up tempo songs with abrupt changes in instrumentation do not foster relaxation. I’ll just about doze off only to have the mellow tones of a cello be replaced jarringly by a clang of cymbals. Note to Alexa–just because a piece is classical, doesn’t mean it’s soothing. I’m fairly sure nobody ever fell asleep to the strains of the Willam Tell Overture.
Finally, though, I believe I’ve found music that might do the trick. It happened quite by accident when on a whim I asked Alexa to play music for cats. I was trying to foster affection, or at least acceptance, between my two antagonistic felines. They both were hanging out in my bedroom, and I had the wild idea that perhaps music could help.
It was an instant hit, and now they expect me to play their music every morning. I’ll wander into the bedroom and find them snuggled into my bed with just a couple of cat lengths between them while a little cat music plays softly in the background. That’s a major improvement.
Last night Studly Doright was out of town. After going to bed I tossed and turned for an hour before wondering if the cat music could work for me, too. I asked Alexa to play it, and the underlying purring sounds set to low strings lulled me to sleep. Now, I woke up around 1 a.m., and again at 4, and had to repeat the process, but it seemed to work fairly well. This leads me to believe I might be a cat. Meow.
Here’s a sample from the album, Music for Cats by David Teie. It’s titled “Lolo’s Air.”
Peace, people.
Praying for Eyebrowz 
try bob dylan
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If there are lyrics my brain thinks I should process them and sing along.
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What a great idea. I will have to play this for Starbaby, my elderly needy cat. Glad it worked for you, too, Leslie. Being a cat is not so bad – naps, service staff (me and my husband in our case!) and a mindful, timeless approach to life. I would not, however, want to wait on others to open the door for me. This cat person enjoys your post.
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Thank you. I love my cats, but they just barely tolerate each other.
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I seem to go in phases with sleeping. Currently I’m in a good one that has lasted most of four weeks now (yes, I actually keep track). But at some point it always ends, and the 3:00-5:00am toss/turn/sighing returns. I’ve never tried music because I suspect it would just keep me up! Glad to know the cats are responding to it for calming them down. – Marty
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I can’t play the music when my husband is home, so I’m still dealing with insomnia most nights. 😢
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lol, my sentiments exactly! Try asling for classical violin … it will blow you!
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I’ll have to try that!
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Hello! I wrote a thing that might work for you 🙂
^Copy and paste that into your browser or find it on my blog. It’s just a link to my sound cloud.
Safe journey traveler!
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Thank you!
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