Associate Professor Kira Vibe Jespersen, Center for Music in the Brain receives grant from Trygfonden

Many young adults struggle with sleep problems. At the same time, listening to music before bedtime has become one of the most popular self-help strategies for improving sleep. But does it actually work? And is it better to listen to calm relaxation music or to your own favourite songs?

These are the questions at the heart of a new research project led by Kira Vibe Jespersen, Associate Professor at Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, which has received support from TrygFonden. The project will investigate how different types of music affect sleep in young adults experiencing sleep difficulties. 

Previous studies suggest that music can improve sleep quality, but most research has focused on specially selected relaxation music. Meanwhile, recent studies show that many people choose very different kinds of music when they use music to fall asleep, including pop, rock and rap. This study will help determine how different types of sleep music affect sleep. 

Furthermore, research including objective sleep measures is limited and the results are mixed. The current study will advance our understanding of the impact of music on objective sleep outcomes by using ear-EEG which allows for repeated objective sleep measurement in the natural home sleep environment of the participants. 

Sleep difficulties are becoming increasingly common among young adults and can have serious consequences for health, wellbeing and quality of life. The researchers hope that the findings will help develop evidence-based recommendations on how music can be used effectively as a simple and accessible sleep aid.

The project will start in February 2027 and run for two years. It is conducted in collaboration with sleep and ear-EEG experts Preben Kidmose and Kaare Mikkelsen from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Biomedical Engineering at Aarhus University.