Why Does Rain Seem To Help You Sleep?

You ever wonder why when it rains you seem to sleep better? Well, there is something to it.

Lucky for me, I am not one that has trouble sleeping. But I have even less trouble sleeping when it rains for some reason. So I did a little digging to find out why.

I don't mean to get all scientific on you, but I found out that the negative ion content in the air increases when it rains. The increase of negative ions can really improve the human nervous system, cardiovascular system, blood system and respiratory system. What is boils down to is, you feel more comfortable and negative ions give you a calming effect which can help you fall asleep more easily.

There is something else that rain can do and that is create a rhythmic sound that acts as nature's lullaby.

There have been several studies done on this subject and they all conclude that when rain sounds enter people's brain, the brain unconsciously relaxes and then produces alpha waves, which are very close to the state of a brain when a human sleeps.

I don't mean to go all sound guy on you, but rain registers between 0 and 20 hHz and this is a frequency level that makes people more comfortable and helps them sleep. Now the opposite effect happens to people when they hear a sudden sound of thunder, it actually makes people stressful. So as long as its raining and you don't have any loud bursts of thunder you are in for a pretty good night sleep.

There is another ingredient that helps people sleep during a rainy night and that is that oxygen can stimulate the brain and make us feel refreshed. So when it rains there is more water vapor in the air, it lowers the air pressure and a slight decrease in oxygen. When this happens the brain begins to relax and this is what makes you feel sleepy when its been raining.

These are some of the reasons you sleep better when it rains. So when you seen rain in the forecast the next time you check the weather, instead of being bummed out, look at it as you will be getting a great night sleep.