Are you listening colourfully?

Luisa Metcalfe discovers how frequencies can boost sleep, soothe anxiety, and even improve your memory

Do you like to sleep beside a whirring fan? Does the sound of the ocean feel soothing? Or do you work best when there’s a thunderstorm? If you answered yes to any of these, you may be using coloured noise to impact your mood without realising it.

These sounds, each with a subtly different mix of frequencies, are spread across a visual spectrum giving them a colour such as white, brown and pink. Many people swear by their power to help them drop off, relax or even concentrate better.

“Different frequencies activate and stimulate your brain in different ways,” says neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart, who hosts the Reinvent Yourself With Dr Tara podcast. So which colour is right for you?

WHITE FOR SLEEP White noise’s ability to induce sleep is no secret to parents of babies and it is hugely popular as a sleep aid among adults.

A steady, hissing sound that kicks in when you tune your TV or radio, white noise contains all frequencies at equal intensity, which makes it good at masking jarring background sounds that might wake you up.