How To Use Alexa Sleep Sounds – Top 10 Skills For A Deep Sleep Tonight!

Do you struggle to get a good night’s sleep? You’re not alone!

Difficulty sleeping and maintaining healthy habits around bedtime can be tough – the blue light from our screens, stress and schedules all play a role.

If you have an Alexa device in your home, then you have an ally in your quest for better rest – there are actually lots of smart skills that can play ambient sounds, guided sleep meditations, soothing restful music, or even tell you a relaxing story.

Alexa sleep sounds skills are available on any Alexa enabled device from Echo Dot to the high-end models like Echo Studio and Echo Show as well as third-party products such as Sonos speakers. Just ask Alexa to play sleep sounds and your device will take care of the rest.

Let’s take a look at some of the best Alexa skills to enable as part of your routine so you can start resting better now.

Types of Ambient Sounds

In this article we mention white noise, pink noise and brown noise, so let’s define what these relaxing sounds actually are.

What Is White noise

White noise is a mix of sound frequencies that create a static-like sound. It can be heard as a high-pitched, intrusive noise, like the sound of a fan, air conditioner or vacuum. It provides an intense soundscape to help relax and focus the mind.

What Is Pink noise

Pink noise is a constant background sound that helps filter out distractions, like people talking or cars driving by. It creates ambient noise, which can help you sleep more peacefully without interruptions. Pink noise can give you the peace and quiet you need to get a good night’s rest.

What Is Brown noise

Brown noise, also known as red noise, produces a deeper and more bass-like sound than pink or white noise. The sound level (decibels) decreases more quickly as the frequency increases than it does in pink noise. It is similar to the sound of steady heavy rainfall or a shower with strong pressure. Some sleep applications use this sound instead of pink noise to create a grainier and deeper effect.

What Sleep Sounds Are Available on Alexa?

There are lots of Alexa skills that provide relaxing sounds. This article goes into detail on our favourites. You can use these on any Alexa enabled device from the Echo Dot up to the high-end models like Echo Show as well as third-party products such as Sonos speakers.

Here is a summary along with their respective star ratings.

Best Alexa Sleep Skills

1. Sleep Sounds by Voice apps

Say “Alexa, open Sleep Sounds”

Sleep Sounds offers a range of soothing sounds to help you drift off into dreamland. Whether it’s rain, wind chirps, crickets or seagulls that do the trick for you, all you have to do is ask Alexa for a list of available sounds, which can be found on Amazon and Sleep Sounds. Then just tell Alexa what sound you’d like to play and let her do the rest – a perfect way to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.

You can choose from over 125 high quality ambient sounds to help you drift off peacefully, block out distracting noises or even calm your baby. Around 50 of these are free sounds, for example Ocean, Rain, Relax, Babbling Brook, Thunderstorm, Rainforest, Fireplace, Wind, Music Box, Forest Birds, sailing sounds, Airplane and Train Ride.

With its selection of calming, soothing and peaceful audio tracks, Sleep Sounds is the ideal companion for a more restful night, an uninterrupted study session or a stress-free day.

To use Sleep Sounds just say “Alexa open Sleep Sounds”. Then, to play a sound say for example “Play Thunderstorm” or “Play Fireplace”.

If you’re not sure what to listen too, say “List Sounds” or if you want Alexa to pick a random sound for you, say “Play Random”.

It also has some useful features that allow you to set timers to automatically shut off, or simply leave it to play on a loop. Some of the extra features are only available with the paid premium version, but at around $10 USD per year so it’s excellent value.

With excellent sound quality and a wide-range of gentle sounds, you are sure to have an improved night’s sleep with Sleep Sounds.

2. Sleep Sounds by Sleep Jar

Say “Alexa, Open Sleep Jar”

With Sleep Sounds by Sleep Jar, you’ll find all the audio tracks you need to help you fall asleep. Choose from a selection of gentle and calming sounds such as rain, oscillating fan sounds,train, crickets, wind, shower, wind chimes, whale, waterfall, city sounds, lake and seagulls – all designed to help you relax and doze off.

To get started just say “Alexa, open Sleep Jar”. Alexa will respond to ask what sound, story, or meditation you would like to listen to.

To start listening to a sound straight away or change your selection, just say “Alexa, ask Sleep Jar to play thunderstorms” or any other sound, story, or meditation of your choice.

Something unique about Sleep Jar is that you can also mix different sounds together to create your own unique ambient sounds.

To find the perfect sound, story, or meditation for you, simply say “Alexa, ask Sleep Jar for a list”. Alexa will recite the full list of available content and also save a readable list in the Alexa app so you can easily browse through the selection later. Once you’ve heard something that’s right for you, just interrupt with your choice by saying “Alexa”, and be on your way to relaxation.

See the full list and listen to previews here

Sleep Jar’s default setting is to play your sound selection until you say “Alexa, stop”, but you can also set a custom sleep timer while the sound is playing. For example, if you want to drift off to the sounds of thunderstorms for three hours, simply say “Alexa, stop in 3 hours”.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also let Sleep Jar surprise you by saying “random” and enjoy some new content!

3. Ambient Noise by Sleep Jar

Say “Alexa, open Ambient Noise”

The Ambient Noise skill also comes from Sleep Jar. This skill also plays sleep sounds, stories, and meditations but this one has more white noise sounds.

It offers an array of fantastic Alexa ambient sounds including cat, fan, clock, lawnmower or blizzard sounds. These are particularly helpful if you live in a noisy area as they help to drown out the noise and help you sleep.

To start the skill say “Alexa, open Ambient Noise” and Alexa will ask you what you would like to listen to.

As with the sleep sounds skill you can choose a specific sound by saying “Alexa, ask Ambient Noise to play lawnmower” or whichever sound you would like.

You can ask for a full list of sounds by saying “Alexa, ask Ambient Noise for a list”. Alexa will tell you the entire content library and save a text list in the Alexa app so you can browse it later.

4. Nature Sounds by Sleep Jar

Say “Alexa, open Nature Sounds”

Nature Sounds is highly rated on Amazon. If you want to listen to the soothing sounds of nature while falling asleep this one should do the trick.

It has a large array of ambient sound skills such as Thunderstorm, Rain, Ocean, Babbling Brook, Rainforest, Crickets, Frogs, Birds, Wind, Windy Leaves, Windy Trees, Rain on a Tin Roof, Rain on a Tent, Light Rain, Rain on a Window, and Distant Thunderstorm.

To start the skill say “Alexa, open Nature Sounds” and Alexa will ask you what you would like to listen to or choose a specific sound for example “Alexa, ask Ambient Noise to play Rain on a tent”.

5. Night Light by Voice Arcade

Say “Alexa, open Night Light”

If you are fed up of stubbing your toe or banging into doors in the middle of the night when heading to the bathroom then Night Light is here to help.

It uses the light rings on your Alexa device to cast a gentle, unobtrusive light that will illuminate your pathway, without disrupting the sleep of your loved one.

It’s bright enough to be able to see where you’re going but dull enough to not disturb your sleep. The best thing about this skill is that you’re able to leave it on for as long as you like.

You can set it to work for a specific amount of time. Simply say “Alexa, open night light for x minutes”. It even works if you say something more specific like “Alexa, open night light for 5 minutes and 30 seconds”.

It should be noted that there is more than one app similar to this, so you need to make sure you’re activating the skill with the star logo.

If you receive a message saying “welcome to night light”, you have activated the wrong one so you must disable this one first before you enable the correct one.

6. Short Bedtime Story

Say “Alexa, launch Bedtime Story”

An absolute must for your little ones, the Short Bedtime Story function is exactly as you’d expect. It offers a selection of short bedtime sleep stories to help children fall asleep.

One interesting feature of this skill is the ability it has to customize your stories. To enable this say “play personalised story” or “play my personal story”.

What more could you want? A story, with your son or daughter as the hero in their very own adventure.

Currently the skill offers the following bedtime stories:

• Tyler meets Santa

• Joy teaches kindness

• Danny’s ocean adventure

• Jessica bakes cake

• Dental heroes

• Alfi blows bubbles

• Goldilocks and three bears

• Little Pirate Joe

• Cinderella

• My Travelling Adventures (kids decide how the story develops)

• Halloween Treasure Hunt

This skill also has some handy extra features. Try out “Spin the Wheel” to select a random bedtime story, or use “Alexa Next” to skip ahead. If you want to hear what you’ve just heard, say “Alexa Repeat”, and if you want to go back to the previous story, try “Alexa Previous”.

7. Sleep Buddy by Alex Thompson

Say “Alexa, ask Sleep Buddy when I should go to bed to wake up at 06:00 am”

One of the more eclectic offerings on our list is Sleep Buddy. This neat little skill helps the user to take control of their sleep pattern, with simple recommendations as to how to get into a healthier routine.

An interesting skill to try out, Sleep Buddy says it takes advantage of REM sleep to figure out the optimal timing for when you should be sleeping and waking up.

Try the following commands to give it a go.

“Alexa, ask Sleep Buddy when should I go to sleep to wake up at 5:00 AM?”

“Alexa, ask Sleep Buddy when should I wake up if I go to sleep at 10:00 PM?”

A very useful tool to use for those of us that like to have a little bit more control over our sleep routines.

8. Zen Sounds by Healing.fm

Say “Alexa, open Zen Sounds”

Unwind and create a calming atmosphere with the Zen Sounds collection, which consists of over 12 specialized sounds ranging from Himalaya to Thunder. All audio streams are of high quality, designed for a full hour, and perfect for use during sleep, study sessions, meditation or relaxation.

The Zen Sounds skill include sounds that are often recommended to form part of basic meditation techniques. Some of our favourites include spirit sounds, delta sounds, future sounds, wolf sounds, and Japanese garden sounds.

Zen sounds will automatically play your chosen sound for an hour unless you request it to play on a loop for an undetermined duration.

These sounds are a very different but fantastic alternative to traditional white noise as they play on the concept of relaxation using more complex sounds than you’d expect from white noise sounds.

9. Guided Sleep Meditation: Meditation of the Day for Calm

Say “Alexa, open Guided Meditation”

Another Alexa skill that might help if you’re having trouble sleeping the Guided Meditation skill.

With the “Guided Meditations” skill, you get a new meditation every day lasting between 1 and 9 minutes. The library consists of over 70 various guided meditations, mindfulness exercises and breathing techniques to ensure that your experience is always fresh!

This allows you to complete simple meditation practices in the comfort of your own home while being guided by the expertise of your Amazon Echo device.

You can also select from an array different objectives such as anxiety, focus, compassion, depression and, of course, sleep!

With the “Guided Meditations” skill, you can easily say “Play next” to skip to a different meditation if the current one isn’t quite hitting the mark. For Alexa Smart Screen devices, you can physically tap or verbally state the name of the next round of meditations right on the screen!

10. Spa Music by Ektara

Say, “Alexa, Play Spa Music”

Spa Music is a great way to create a calming, relaxing atmosphere anytime, anywhere! It can help relax your body and mind, reducing stress and making you feel more balanced.

This beautiful music is perfect for relaxation, meditation, yoga, deep sleeping and stress relief – it’s the perfect accompaniment to bring peace and balance back into your life.

Enjoy this gentle music that can provide some instant calm and help soothe an over-active mind.

Note – To get the most out of this skill you will want to subscribe as the free skill is very limited and according to reviews includes Ads which isn’t very relaxing!

Does Alexa Have Free Sleep Sounds?

Most of the Alexa sleep sounds skills we have looked at in this article are available for free. Most of them have a premium, paid version which allows you to access more sounds and features but these are generally low cost (around $10 USD per year on average).

How do you get Alexa to Play Sleep Sounds All Night?

Most of the skills we have reviewed allow you to set a sleep timer to play sounds for a specific amount of time. Check the details for each skill to confirm if you can set it to run all night.

To ensure your Alexa sleep sounds turn off in the right amount of time, try setting a sleep timer. It’s easy to do – just tell Alexa “Alexa, set sleep timer for 2 hours”.

Different Alexa sleep sounds have different lengths, so if you want yours to turn off after two hours, make sure to let Alexa know. And don’t forget – some sounds don’t turn off unless you tell them to with an “Alexa, stop”, so it is always helpful to set a sleep timer.

Can You Set up Sleep Sounds With Alexa Routine

You can setup Alexa routines to activate specific sleep skills when you want to relax by doing the following.

• Launch the Alexa app on your phone or tablet

• Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner

• Tap Routines

• Tap the + icon in the upper right corner to open up a New Routine tab

• Tap “When this happens” to choose the trigger. For example, your can select Voice and then type “Sleep Sound”

• Tap “Add action” and select “Skills”

• Tap Your skills and find the “Sleep Sounds” (or whichever skill you are looking to setup) in the list

• Tap “Save” in the upper right corner to save your new routine.

• When you’re ready to drift off to sleep, say, “Alexa, Sleep Sounds”

Alternative Sleep Aids

If you want to try something different you could try relaxing music or even a dedicated sleep device to provide ambient sound.

Play Relaxing Music Through Amazon Prime Music

Say “Alexa, play sleeping sounds on Amazon Prime Music”

As an alternative to sleep skills, why not try playing songs that can relax you and help you fall asleep.

As an Amazon Prime member, you can enjoy the soothing sounds of Amazon Prime Music through Alexa.

Try saying, “Alexa, play sleeping sounds on Amazon Prime Music.” for a relaxing soundtrack to lull you off to a peaceful slumber!

You can also create your own playlist of relaxing music. Here is a list we put together for you to try (although it’s a short list some of them are several hours long!):

1. “We Can Fly,” by Rue du Soleil (Café Del Mar)

2. “Weightless,” by Marconi Union

3. “Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix),” by DJ Shah

4. “Watermark,” by Enya

5. “Pure Shores,” by All Saints

Yogasleep Dohm

This is one of the highest rated sound machines on Amazon, with a long track record dating back to 1962 this is a great choice for a dedicated ambient sound machine.

The Yogasleep Dohm provides just one basic sound, the soothing ambient sound of an air conditioner or fan, but without any of the cooling effects. While that might sound very basic when other machines have a variety of sounds, I would encourage you to check out the reviews and test this for yourself. People love this machine!

This is natural sound machine. It is not a digital sound but the sound of fans within the machine itself.

It creates a constant “whirring” sound that has been known to promote deep and restful sleep.

It is very effective at blocking disruptive outside noises such as loud neighbors, barking dogs, snoring partners, chatty coworkers, and city sounds.

White Noise Sleep Sound Machine

This 6 Sound White Noise Machine is perfect for all ages – adults, kids and babies alike.

It helps you fall asleep more easily, sleep better and wake up refreshed. Featuring a variety of soothing sounds, the machine is designed to mask background noise to promote improved sleep, concentration and private conversations.

The sounds included are:

• Rain

• Brook

• Ocean

• Thunder

• White Noise

• Summer Night

The optional timer is a great feature. You can set it to run all night or for 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

Yogasleep Travel Mini Portable White Noise Machine, 6 Soothing Sounds, Dimmable Night Light

The Yogasleep Travel Mini Sound Machine is a revolutionary, pocket-sized device that combines robust white noise options and a night light in one sleek and lightweight package.

Featuring six lush soundtracks, white noise, brown noise, Dohm sound (fan/ air conditioner sound), Gentle Surf, Stream, and Thunderstorm.

This portable little device is great for promoting relaxation and improving your sleep, it great to use at-home in bedrooms or nurseries, as well as when travelling.

The soft amber night light has three dimmable options and is engineered to the right tone and brightness so it won’t interrupt your sleep cycles. Weighing under 5 oz and no larger than the palm of your hand, it comes with a USB rechargeable battery and lanyard for convenience.

Boasting an impressive volume range of 0 to 70 dB, the Travel Mini should help you get a better night’s rest anywhere you go!

Conclusion

When looking to get a good nights sleep, using ambient sounds before bed is a great way to encourage a healthier sleeping routine.

We’ve looked at some of the best Alexa sleep skills as well as some alternative stand-alone machines. Everyone is different so I would encourage you to test them out and find out what works best for you!