Want to go to sleep? Listen to Ed Sheeran and Coldplay, says South Yorkshire music expert

Listening to Ed Sheeran and Coldplay is the perfect recipe to send you off to sleep, according to a South Yorkshire musical expert.
Ed Sheeran and Coldplay are the music you need to listen to if you want a good night's sleep.Ed Sheeran and Coldplay are the music you need to listen to if you want a good night's sleep.
Ed Sheeran and Coldplay are the music you need to listen to if you want a good night's sleep.

If you want to beat insomnia the natural way, sticking on the Sing hitmaker or an album by the Viva La Vida group should soon have you snoozing, according to University of Sheffield music lecturer Victoria Williamson.

New research by scientists at the University found Johann Sebastian Bach was the top composer of sleep music, followed by Ed Sheeran, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Brian Eno, and Coldplay.

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In the study, students who listened to 45 minutes of music before bedtime for three weeks had a better night's sleep with similar effects reported in older citizens in Singapore.

Following all this evidence, the NHS now recommends 'listening to soft music' before bedtime as a method to prevent insomnia.

Aside from those few top rated artists, there was an enormous variety of individual choices – with 14 different genres and 545 different artists named.

Said Victoria: "Sadly, not all of us are blessed with the bounty of a good night's slumber after a long and often tiring day.

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"Around 30 per cent of adults experience chronic insomnia at some point in their life – where sleep is disrupted for more than a month."

Research has shown that listening to 'self-selected' music – music of your choice – can actually shorten stage two sleep cycles.

This means people reach restful REM sleep – the restorative part of our sleep – more quickly.