Scientists have reported a deterioration in sleep quality when listening to pink noise.

Pink noise, often used to improve sleep, can reduce REM sleep and interfere with recovery. This was reported on February 2 by Medical Xpress magazine.

"REM sleep is important for memory consolidation, emotion regulation, and brain development, so our results show that reproducing pink noise and other types of broadband noise during sleep can be harmful, especially for children, whose brains are still developing and who spend much more time in REM sleep than adults.", — said the lead author of the study, Mathias Basner, MD, professor of Sleep and Chronobiology in Psychiatry.

The researchers followed 25 healthy adults between the ages of 21 and 41 in a sleep laboratory for eight hours over seven nights. Participants reported that they had not previously used noise to sleep and did not suffer from disorders. During the study, they slept under various conditions, including airplane noise, pink noise, a combination of both, and with earplugs. Every morning, the subjects filled out questionnaires to assess the quality of sleep, wakefulness, and other health indicators.

During sleep, a person repeatedly goes through the phases of deep and REM sleep. Deep sleep is important for physical recovery, memory consolidation, and detoxification of the brain, while fast sleep is important for emotional regulation, motor skills, and brain development.

Pink noise is a type of broadband noise that is continuous sound distributed over a wide range of frequencies and sounds uniform and like static noise. This type also includes white noise, as well as other noise colors such as brown and blue.

The results showed that earplugs were significantly more effective in protecting sleep from noise. It is clarified that exposure to airplane sounds was associated with a decrease in time in the deep sleep phase by about 23 minutes per night. At the same time, pink noise was associated with a decrease in the duration of the REM sleep phase by almost 19 minutes.

The researchers also found that the combination of pink noise with airplane sounds contributed to a reduction in the duration of deep and REM sleep phases compared to control legs spent in silence. The waking time in these conditions increased by 15 minutes. According to the subjects, they woke up more often and their overall sleep quality was worse when exposed to airplane sounds or pink noise compared to quiet nights.

According to the publication, disruption of the REM sleep phase is a common feature of diseases such as depression, anxiety, and Parkinson's disease. Basner noted that young children, unlike adults, spend much more time in this phase, so they may be particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pink noise. At the same time, parents often put noise machines next to the crib of newborns or toddlers with the intention of helping them fall asleep and not wake up.

"Overall, our results caution against the use of broadband noise, especially for newborns and young children, and indicate the need for additional research in vulnerable populations, on long-term use, on various types of broadband noise, and on safe levels of broadband noise in relation to sleep," concluded Basner.

On December 8, 2025, Medical Xpress reported on the association of lack of sleep with a shorter life expectancy. It was clarified that a lack of quality sleep affects longevity more strongly than diet and physical activity. Experts have recommended paying as much attention to sleep as to nutrition and exercise.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.