There seem to be two types of people in this world—deep sleepers and light sleepers.

Deep sleepers can basically sleep through almost anything. There’s a fog horn going off? A relentless car alarm? Their phone beeping for an hour straight? No problem! Didn’t notice.

Light sleepers on the other hand are disrupted by the slightest sounds—creaks in the floorboards or the fridge kicking on is enough to pull them out of their rest. And forget about it if you have noisy people like a snoring partner, loud children or siblings, or even rambunctious neighbours!

If you fall into the latter category, you probably marvel at the deep sleepers. And you may be under-rested and completely suffering from a lack of sleep. And that’s no way to live!

So, we thought it would be nice to come up with some tips on:

How to Sleep in a Noisy World

Block it out

There are number of tools you can use to simply block out or muffle outside sounds — earplugs being the easiest, most cost effective and most comfortable. If noisy neighbours or surroundings are deeply affecting your quality of sleep, invest in some quality earplugs that mold to the shape of your ear canal so that they are effective and remain in place throughout the night.

Cover it up

White noise machines are great for this. Or there are online videos and plenty of apps that can do the same thing without having to invest in an actual machine. Whether it’s the sound of ocean waves or the sound of static (think of a radio in between stations), this might be enough to drown out whatever other noise is distracting you.

Using steady noise can also be effective if you are being kept awake by the thoughts racing through your mind. Sometimes all we need is enough sound to capture and distract our attention and before we know it we are off to zzzzzzzz land.

Get zen

Learning to meditate can help control the wandering mind and can give us the techniques needed to not be distracted by every little noise that comes our way. This can take the form of a relaxing body scan that relaxes all of our muscles from top to bottom. Or it can be by learning deep breathing exercises that we can use any time we get worked up or distracted.

Have a word

Sometimes people don’t know how loud and distracting they are being, and all it takes is the right approach and a simple conversation to solve the problem. If someone next door is playing video games loudly, maybe they will consider using headphones if they know they are keeping you awake. If your partner is snoring, have a gentle conversation about how the noise is affecting you and see if you can find a solution together. Be proactive!

Sleeping through noise may take trying a few methods and tweaking your technique. But don’t give up. If you can master sleeping through noisy situations, your life will change for the better!