How to Sleep with Lots of Noise

How to Sleep with Lots of Noise

Noises that invade your room when you're trying to sleep can keep you up at night, leaving you groggy when morning comes. Poor sleep has been connected to a number of health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, and feelings of fatigue. There are several actions you can take to help with unwanted noise, and with adequate measures you can ensure you'll get a good night's sleep no matter what is going on outside your home.Modifying Your BedroomMove your furniture. If you share a wall with a loud neighbor or a noisy street, rearranging your furniture could help quell some of the sound coming into your home. Adding additional furniture to your bedroom can help muffle sound, and rearranging existing furniture could help distance your bed from the source of the noise.Move your bed to the side of the room farthest from the noise source. If you share a wall in an apartment building, for example, and your bedroom wall is in your neighbor's living room, try pushing your bed to the far side of the room.Positioning large, thick pieces of furniture against a noisy wall can help absorb and muffle some of the sound. Try putting a bulky bookshelf against the wall and filling it with books to help block out noise.Cover your walls. To absorb noise effectively from a wall that lets a lot of sound through, try covering the wall with an absorbent material. Acoustic panels work best, and for added absorption you can opt for acoustic panels wrapped in thick fabric.Choose panels that have a noise reduction rating of 0.85 or higher.

Try acoustical blankets. These specialty cloths are designed to be hung on the wall to muffle outside sound.Insulate the floor and ceiling. If the noise in your home is coming from below, you can reduce noise by insulating the floor. You can do this by putting down carpets, or by actually insulating the floor below the baseboards.Cork works best for flooring materials. It insulates sound much better than most woods.If you can't put wall-to-wall carpeting down, opt for a thick, large area rug.

If you own your own home and have an attic above your bedroom, you can also insulate the floor of the attic. Use R25 fiberglass at least eight inches thick to help insulate the space above your room.

Use acoustically-rated ceiling tiles with a ceiling attenuation class (CAC) of at least 40 and an NRC of at least 55. This should help block most types of noise, as these ceiling tiles are designed for use on homes located near an airport.Sound-proof your windows. If noise keeps coming in from the street or from other noisy neighbors, you can try soundproofing your windows. Be sure to latch down your blinds because they may rattle. This option will require a bit of work and may get costly, but it should prove effective at blocking out the sound.Install double or secondary glazing windows. Both types of windows are effective at insulating your home and blocking outside noise.

Hang thick curtains in your bedroom windows to help block some noise.

Check the windows for gaps. These tiny spaces between the window and the wall don't just let in a draft of air, they can also let outside noise slip in. Use a safe insulating foam sealant made for use on windows and doors to stop up these gaps and help seal your room off from the noise outside your home.