Sleep disturbances are a frequent and ever increasing problem in society with a range of consequences for both physical and mental health. Music therapy has been shown to be an effective treatment for sleep disturbances, but the most effective type of music for this is not known. Therefore this study aimed to explore if the familiarity and presence of lyrics in music affects its ability to aid sleep. 169 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: familiar music with lyrics, familiar music without lyrics, unfamiliar music with lyrics and unfamiliar music without lyrics. Participants completed the PSQI and ISi before and after 7 consecutive nights of listening to music, corresponding to their assigned condition, while they fell asleep. A significant interaction effect between familiarity and lyrics was found for the difference in PSQI scores. When paired with the means, this suggested familiar music without lyrics and unfamiliar music with lyrics were the most effective at increasing sleep quality. These findings have important implications for the treatment of sleep disturbances, by contributing to finding the most effective type of song for aiding sleep. Future studies should explore possible factors that interact with familiarity and lyrics to influence sleep quality, in order to further determine the most effective type of music to aid sleep.
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