Sleep Headbands and Sleep Bars

Sliced Bread

BBC

Health & Fitness

4.6 • 634 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Which products are best for bedtime listening?

According to a YouGov poll nearly half of us listen to music or podcasts to help us get to sleep and there are a range of products designed to do just that.

Listener Nick has seen wearable sleep headbands with speakers woven in to the fabric which he hopes will stop him waking up in the middle of the night with headphones or earbuds digging into his ears.

And listener David says his social media is promoting sleep bars that go under the pillow and claim to transmit sound via bone conduction.

To find out more, Greg is joined by acoustic expert Professor Trevor Cox and Lecturer at the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, Ullrich Bartsch. They discuss the sound quality of these devices and whether it's a good idea to listen to music or podcasts at bedtime at all. Is there any evidence that it results in a good night's sleep?

All our episodes start with YOUR suggestions. If you?ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at [email protected] OR send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807

PRODUCERS: SIMON HOBAN AND GREG FOOT

RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.1	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.7	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs,
0:13.5	moments and movements, stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.
0:19.1	And the BBC's position, at the heart of British music
0:21.7	means we can tell those stories like no one else.
0:24.5	We were, are and always will be right there at the centre of the narrative.
0:28.6	So whether you want an insightful take on music right now
0:31.3	or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and infamous moments in music,
0:36.1	check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:40.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:46.6	Hello, I'm Greg Furt and welcome to Slice Bread, the BBC Radio 4 show that investigates
0:51.1	the wonder products promising to make you happier, healthier or greener.
0:55.0	Each episode, I run one of your suggested wonder products through the evidence mill to find out
0:59.0	if it is indeed the best thing since sliced bread or marketing BS.
1:05.6	And today's suggestion comes from Nick Donlin from Nantwich in Cheshire. Welcome Nick.
1:10.3	Pleased to be here, Greg. What wonder product would you like us to investigate today?
1:14.4	I've seen on social media these sleep headbands and I'm fascinated with whether it's a good thing or not to go to sleep with music on in the background.
1:24.9	Very often I've done that with normal headphones and woken up with a sore ear
1:29.0	or found them in the bed, falling off in the night, and I'm just intrigued by them, really.
1:34.5	And also, there's so many brands and I've been inundated with adverts for them, the different
1:40.2	types and some have got high quality, some are not. So just describe these to us then?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.