[great_kraken]

I moved to NYC a few months ago, from Long Island, and I have been experiencing morning headaches. If I look at my sleep logger app, I notice that after around 5-6 AM, my sleep quality goes way down and moves into mostly light sleep, almost no deep sleep or REM. There's definitely something to be said about how street noise affects our sleep patterns.

For me, I'll have to try using earplugs more, but the stress on my ears isn't so nice because I'm a side sleeper. I wish I could just go to bed earlier, but I work on a remote team which is half in LA, and it would be counterproductive if I wasn't able to stay up past 10-11 PM... not to mention my schedule would conflict with that of my friends and roommates.

[bonniemuffin]

Have you tried adding white noise, like sleeping with a fan on? I find it just as effective as earplugs, which make my ear canals hurt if I wear them all night. For me, it's not the volume of noise that hurts my sleep quality; it's the variations in the noise.

[scurvy]

FWIW, pink noise helped tremendously with my urban-noise-induced tinnitus at night.

[great_kraken]

Hmm, I used to sleep with a fan on back in college for the heat and I did get used to it at the time. Maybe I'll try some white noise. Thanks.

[SeanDav]

Consistent white noise absolutely works.

[sathackr]

agreed. I grew up sleeping 35ft from a busy highway with rumble strips. A 5000btu window unit air conditoner 3ft from my head drowned it all out. I sleep with a small fan running in the corner now and use a white noise app on my phone when I'm away from home.

[mleonhard]

This white noise maker has worked well for me for 8 years: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LQI2S0

They work by increasing the volume of the background noise. Sounds that would normally affect or you sleep end up blending in with the background noise.

[osxrand]

Try this site, I use it occasionally to help me ignore the fan / vibration noise in this building and it works really well (for my purposes at least). There are plenty of different presets to choose from or tune your own.

http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/throatSingingDroneGenerator...

I use that one, Darkness, overall volume up a little and first two sliders down a little. Works like a charm.

[dakna]

I'm a side sleeper as well and I have been using Ohropax Classic earplugs for years. They are made out of wax, so you can roll and bend them a bit. This way they fit in my ears, nothing sticks out.

German company, but available in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Ohropax-Reusable-cotton-Plugs-Carrying...

[chairmankaga]

I'm also a side sleeper and had trouble with normal earplugs. A month back I bought these DIY custom molded earplugs. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003A28OW6 I use them every night with no discomfort, they do a better job of blocking out noise and they stick in all night regardless of my tossing and turning.

[udfalkso]

Also a side sleeper with the same issues.

I tried two pairs of these Radians and couldn't get them to work well. They don't form a proper seal I think, not exactly sure. Def. not as effective as normal ear plugs when it comes to blocking out sound for me. I'm not sure if I did something wrong during the molding process or my ear shape is somehow incompatible with them but I did carefully try twice to no avail.

Any tips?

[great_kraken]

How long do they last you, on average? I've seen these before but worried about them breaking down.

I may look into getting some custom molded silicone sleep plugs in the future, I have some noise attenuating ones already for concerts and they're pretty comfortable.

[PhantomGremlin]

Here are dirt cheap earplugs for you, Home Depot sells many similar variations by 3M:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Orange-Disposable-Earplugs-7-P...

You can take a pair of scissors and slightly trim from the big (non-rounded) end, so that they aren't long enough to interfere with side sleeping, but they are still long enough that you can easily pull them out in the morning.

I haven't tried custom silicone earplugs, but these disposable ones are very soft and comfortable. You twirl them into a smaller thickness and they gently expand once you insert them.

I started using them a number of years ago when the guy in the house next door got a very loud dog that he insisted stay outside at night and/or early morning. So of course the dog did nothing but whine and bark! Fortunately he finally got rid of the dog.

A single "disposable" pair of plugs can last a week, or even a month if you want. The sound effectiveness decreases slightly over multiple uses. But that's OK. They start out really quiet, they claim something close to 30 dB. So if they're only 15 dB after multiple uses, that's OK. You probably don't want total isolation anyway.

[chairmankaga]

I've had them a little over a month and show no signs of breaking down.

[Futurebot]

I've used ear plugs for a long time; they really help. My current favorites are the Moldex 6604 Sparkplugs. Even as a side-sleeper, they work great for me.

[lgieron]

Extended use of earplugs (say every night for a couple years) can be a contributing cause to developing tinnitus.

[driverdan]

Source?

[nordsieck]

https://www.reddit.com/r/tinnitus/comments/34k8si/does_sleep...

It looks like it's not earplugs, but sensory deprivation that can cause tinnitus. If you're listening to a normal volume of noise for at least a few hours a days, it won't be a problem.

[dazc]

Dunno if this is true but if you're already afflicted prolonged use of earplugs will make it a lot worse, in my experience.