Return to Sleep
Thoughts
July 4th, 2010
The History of
Nature Sounds: Part 1
Nature sounds prior to the Internet era
were pretty much all the same. You had the standards: ocean
waves, thunderstorms, waterfalls, crickets, flowing rivers,
and birds... and more birds. Only a few companies put out
these recordings as distributing them was a major
undertaking. Then came the 'New Age' music era. You pretty
much had all the same sounds but Celtic harp, pan flute,
piano and other relaxation music were added to the mix. It
was all very nice and certainly relaxing. The next gizmo to
be added to the 'nature sound' genre' was nature sound
'machines'. These could range from cheap alarm clocks, with
the aforementioned nature sounds built into microchips, to
much more extensive devices. Now there are 'virtual' sleep
sounds Apps for Iphones... but they all still have the same
problem. They are looped sounds and
therefore the repetitiveness of the audio can cause
listeners to quickly bore of the sounds.
I like to think that we, The Virtual
Sound Company, have innovated the next generation of nature
sounds. Our sounds are unique as they are specifically
designed for sleep induction. Of course, we have our
versions of more conventional relaxation sounds in the
Pure Ambiance section, but overall our sounds are
recorded to promote visualization and, therefore, sleep.
We use distant background sounds to simulate and stimulate .
By simulating an actual environment (i.e. riding in
an airliner, being on a
beach vacation)
we are stimulating the listener's imagination. This
visual imagery occurs in all of our brains in a region known
as the
Secondary Visual Cortex. It is the same area that is
stimulated during meditation involving imagery. As nature
would have it; it is also the same place that is stimulated
during dreaming. Ergo, Virtual Dreamer.
So, when you hear distant volleyball
players on a beach... visualize the volleyball players. When
you hear the buckling of seat belts on the airliner...
picture it in your mind. This will assist you in reaching
the Theta brainwave state. The
Theta brainwave state is the jumping off point to deep
sleep. I sometimes refer to it as the daydream state.
Visualizing to achieve deep relaxation is
nothing new. People have been meditating for hundreds
of years. Nature sounds are nothing new. Combining the
two is new... and it has helped this insomniac
conquer some pretty serious sleeping issues. This is why we
can, and do,
guarantee it.
I hope you have a great Independence Day
holiday and get some sleep!
Dream good dreams!
Brad McBride
Comments?
email me
