Ashwin Lewis
Struggling to fall asleep? You're not alone. According to the National Sleep Foundation, almost half of all Americans don’t get enough quality sleep. Luckily, Amazon's Alexa has a range of sleep-promoting skills, from playing white noise and guided meditations to reading bedtime stories and adjusting your smart thermostat. To get started, simply say, Alexa, open Sleep Sounds or Alexa, enable the Good Night Routine. You can also ask Alexa to play specific sounds, like Play Rain or Play Thunderstorm. With Alexa's help, you'll be drifting off into a peaceful slumber in no time.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| How to start | Say "Alexa, open Sleep Sounds" |
| Playing a sound | Say "Play" and the name of the sound, e.g. "Play Thunderstorm" |
| Getting a list of sounds | Say "List Sounds" |
| Playing a random sound | Say "Play Random" |
| Playing the next or previous sound | Say "Alexa, Next" or "Alexa, Previous" |
| Starting a sound directly | Say "Alexa, tell Sleep Sounds to play [sound name]" |
| Limiting the time a sound plays for | First play the sound, then say "Alexa, set a sleep timer for [time]" |
| Guided Sleep | Say "Guided Sleep On" |
| Creating a bedtime routine | Say "Alexa, enable the Good Night Routine" |
| Playing a custom sound | Say "Play" and the name of the custom sound |
| Premium features | Higher-quality sounds, no sound gaps |
Explore related products
What You'll Learn
How to activate the skill: Alexa, open Sleep Sounds
There are several ways to activate the Sleep Sounds skill on your Alexa-enabled device. Firstly, you can open the Alexa app on your mobile device. From there, tap the More icon in the lower right corner and select Skills & Games from the sidebar. Tap the search icon in the upper right and search for "sleep" to find a host of sleep-inducing skills.
Another way to activate the skill is to ask Alexa to enable the Ambient Sounds skill, then ask it to open the skill and list the options. For example, you can say, "Alexa, ask Ambient Sounds for a list." By default, the sounds will loop automatically and play until you say, "Alexa, Stop."
You can also ask Alexa to play specific sounds, such as "Alexa, ask Sleep Sounds for ocean waves" or "Alexa, play the sound of a campfire." If you want to listen to a specific type of sound, such as white noise, you can ask Alexa to enable it, and it will play for an hour. If you want it to play indefinitely, ask Alexa to turn the loop on, and it will continue until you ask it to stop.
If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can also access Amazon Prime Music through Alexa and play sleeping sounds from there. For example, say, "Alexa, play sleeping sounds on Amazon Prime Music."
Unlocking Innisfree's Wine Jelly Sleeping Pack Secrets
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Asking for specific sounds: Play Thunderstorm
To play specific sleep sounds on your Alexa device, first say "Alexa, open Sleep Sounds". Then, to play a particular sound, you can say "Play" and the name of the sound. For example, to play the sound of a thunderstorm, say "Play Thunderstorm". You can also ask for specific sounds by saying "Alexa, tell Sleep Sounds to play [sound name]". So, to play a thunderstorm sound, say "Alexa, tell Sleep Sounds to play Thunderstorm".
There are several options for playing sleep sounds with Alexa, including the Sleep Sounds skill and the Thunderstorm Sounds skill by Sleep Jar®. With the latter, you can enable the skill and then say "Alexa, open Thunderstorm Sounds". The sound will play in a long loop until you say "Alexa, stop". You can also set a custom time limit by saying something like "Alexa, set a sleep timer for 6 hours".
If you want to play other sounds similar to thunderstorms, you can ask Alexa to play sounds like "rain", "ocean", "waterfall", "rainforest", or "rain on a tin roof". You can also ask for a list of sounds by saying "Alexa, list sounds".
Setting Sleep Timer on Galaxy S7: A Guide
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Asking for a list of sounds: List Sounds
To ask for a list of sleep sounds on Alexa, you can use the Sleep Sounds skill. To get started, say, "Alexa, open Sleep Sounds". Then, to hear a list of the available sounds, say, "List Sounds". You can also ask for a specific sound, such as "Play Rain" or "Play Thunderstorm".
If you want to listen to a combination of sounds, you can ask for "Sleep and Relaxation Sounds". This skill offers over 100 sounds, including rain, crickets, forest, and a campfire. You can also try "Sweet Dreams", which offers sounds such as rain, surf, a stream, a forest, a canyon, a desert, or a brook.
There are also other skills that offer a combination of sounds and guided meditations, such as Sleep Music by Urban Yogi and Sleep Jar. To start these skills, say, "Alexa, start Sleep Music" or "Alexa, open Sleep Jar".
If you want to create a bedtime routine with sleep sounds, you can say, "Alexa, enable the Good Night Routine". This will prompt Alexa to wish you good night and play sleep sounds.
Jujube Fruit: Natural Sleep Aid and Insomnia Solution
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Asking for a random sound: Play Random
If you're unsure what sound you want to listen to, you can ask Alexa to play a random sound. To do this, first say, ""Alexa, open Sleep Sounds" or "Alexa, open Relaxing Sounds". Then, to play a random sound, say "Play Random" or "Alexa, ask Relaxing Sounds for a random sound".
You can also ask Alexa to play a random sleep story. To do this, say, "Alexa, play Sleep Stories", and Alexa will start narrating a random story. If you don't like the story, you can ask Alexa to play the next one by saying, "Alexa, ask Sleep Stories to play the next story".
If you want to listen to a random meditation, you can say, "Alexa, play Sleep meditation", and Alexa will play an 18-minute meditation.
Additionally, you can use the Sweet Dreams skill, which will play either sounds or short meditations. To play a random sound, say, "Alexa, ask Sweet Dreams to play [name of sound]".
Sleep Through the Ages: A Historical Perspective
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Setting a sleep timer: Alexa, set a sleep timer for 2 hours
To set a sleep timer for 2 hours, you can say: "Alexa, set a sleep timer for 2 hours". Alexa will respond with 'Okay' and repeat the amount of time for the timer. You can also set a sleep timer for lights by saying, for example, "Alexa, set a sleep timer on Bedroom Lights for 2 hours". If you have dimmable lights, they will slowly dim throughout the timeframe you've set; otherwise, the lights will simply turn off at the designated time.
You can also set a sleep timer to turn off both audio and lights simultaneously. However, some users have reported that no matter how the command is phrased, Alexa only turns off one or the other. To get around this, you can set up a routine or use IFTTT with Alexa to create your own chain of commands.
To cancel a sleep timer, wake your Alexa device and say "Cancel sleep timer".
Pretty in Pink: Earplugs for Construction?
You may want to see also
Frequently asked questions
First, say "'Alexa, open Sleep Sounds'". Then, to play a sound, say something like "Play Thunderstorm" or "Play Rain". You can also ask for "ocean sounds" or "rain sounds".
To get a list of sleep sounds, say "List Sounds".
Yes, say "Play Random" and Alexa will play a random sleep sound.
When a sound is playing, say "Alexa, Next" or "Alexa, Previous" to play the next or previous sound.
Say "Alexa, set a sleep timer for [amount of time]" to limit the time that the sound will play for.
