Lyrics Versus No Lyrics: The Role of Music in Adolescent Sleep Quality

Abstract

Sleep deprivation, or the lack of a healthy amount of sleep, is a major problem for adolescents that can lead to many mental health issues, obesity, and drowsy driving (Owens et al., 2014). Many studies have found that bedtime music, or music that is listened to before or during sleep, can improve sleep quality in adolescents due to its relaxing nature and its ability to distract the listener from potential stresses (Loewy, 2020; Trahan et al., 2018). However, no studies have analyzed the differences in how lyrical and non-lyrical bedtime music impact adolescent sleep quality. The researcher conducted a quantitative correlational study utilizing an electronic survey as the instrument, with the intent of discerning if there was any correlation between lyrical or non-lyrical bedtime music and sleep quality and adolescents. The study found no major differences between the average sleep quality scores of non-bedtime music listeners, lyrical bedtime music listeners, and non-lyrical bedtime music listeners. However, the results did indicate that adolescents who listened to a mix of lyrical and non-lyrical bedtime music had better overall sleep quality than all other groups. A comparison between lyrical and non-lyrical bedtime music indicated that lyrical bedtime music was slightly better for adolescent sleep quality than non-lyrical bedtime music. This study opens the door for future studies aimed towards analyzing a potential causational relationship between lyricism in bedtime music and overall sleep quality.