It’s a common saying that electronic devices make it harder for people to fall asleep. While that’s mostly true for most gadgets, like Apple iPhones and Android devices, some smart home devices can help you fall asleep. You can use smart speakers like Amazon Echo devices to play white noises, sleep sounds, and bedtime stories to promote sleep, thanks to Alexa Skills. In addition, you can use sleep timers, and Amazon Alexa automatically stops playing these soothing sounds after a predefined amount of time. If you’d like help playing sleep sounds to sleep better at night, read on to learn more about Alexa sleep sounds.
Which devices can play Alexa sleep sounds?
Although it’s best to use a dedicated Echo device to interact with Alexa, such as an Amazon Echo Dot or an Echo Show, an Android or iOS smartphone can also run the Alexa app to use the sleep sounds skills. However, using a dedicated device ensures you can summon the digital assistant seamlessly to start a specific Alexa skill or set a sleep timer.
Similarly, any Alexa-compatible device can play sleep sounds. This means your existing soundbar or speaker might have Alexa built-in and help you fall asleep easily.
Use Alexa skills to play white noises to fall asleep
Thanks to Alexa skills, you can use your smart speakers to play different types of sounds that rock you to sleep. These can include relaxation sounds like thunderstorms, rain, brown noise, ambient sounds, crickets, ocean waves, and more.
Although Alexa doesn’t play sleep sounds, it can fulfill the request using Alexa Skills. There are plenty you can use without needing to reach for your phone. These include Relaxing Sounds, Sleep Sounds, Sweet Dreams, and more.
To use them, say: “Alexa, ask Sleep Sounds for ocean sounds” or “Alexa, ask Sweet Dreams to play rain sounds.” Make sure you check out the skill page to review the list of available sounds you can play.
In addition to white noises, there are specific guided meditation skills you can use to fall asleep easily. The most popular is the Guided Meditation skill, which helps you start your night smoothly.
Listen to a podcast or audiobooks
In addition to ambient and white noises, you can play podcasts or audiobooks through your speaker. For podcasts, you don’t need a specific app. You can use Spotify or Amazon Music for podcast playback in addition to your existing playlists. As for audiobooks, Audible is one of the most popular services, and it works seamlessly with Alexa.
Create a sleep timer
Regardless of what your speaker is playing, it generally won’t stop unless you say, “Alexa, stop” out loud. Although this is straightforward, you’re unlikely to say it while you’re falling asleep. For added convenience, you can create Alexa sleep timers, which automatically stop audio playback after a predefined amount of time.
Setting it up is easy. All you need to say is, “Alexa, set a sleep timer for one hour,” or the amount of time after which you want Alexa to go quiet. Also, if you plan to rely on sleep sounds to fall asleep on a regular basis, consider setting up an Alexa routine that automatically stops audio playback at a specific time without manually setting an Alexa sleep timer.
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Let Alexa help you with everyday tasks
Whether you’re playing your favorite playlists, white noises, guided meditation, or audiobooks, Alexa can help you fall asleep, and it turns silent after a preset time. In addition to this, it can assist with other everyday tasks to make your life easier. For example, it can call loved ones in case of an emergency. You can also ask Alexa to check your bank account balance instead of using your computer.
While Alexa is usually reliable, it may sometimes have issues. If that’s the case, check out our guide on the common issues and how to solve them.
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