AUTHOR=Dickson Gaelen Thomas , Schubert Emery 

TITLE=Music on Prescription to Aid Sleep Quality: A Literature Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01695

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01695

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Investigations of music for improving sleep quality have produced mixed results. We
investigated whether the number of music dosages could be a reason for the lack of clarity. Six
longitudinal music sleep studies using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) over three
weeks were identified. Music was compared to active (audiobooks or medication) or passive
controls, and significantly improved PSQI within the first or second week of prescription. PSQI
improved with an average mean difference of -1.15 (SD = 0.53) for each week. Music
continued to improve PSQI over a study that had a three-month music intervention (low score
associated with better sleep). One study with a low initial PSQI score resulted in poor sleepers
(PSQI>5) achieving healthy sleep (PSQI<5) within three weeks of regular music intervention.
For future studies, ‘prescribing’ music beyond three weeks may lead to more instances of
healthy sleep, particularly for those who have mild sleep problems. To explain the findings,
we proposed that the relationship between weeks of music listening and improved PSQI are
attributed to the truncation of poor bedtime habits linked to ruminative tendencies and
consequent hyperarousal prior to the music intervention. Music listening at bedtime replaces
those bad habits, we argue, by forming a new psychological link between bedtime and sleep
through evaluative conditioning. The findings of the present study provide disarming evidence
of the potential for prescription of music for treating mild sleep disorder.