Can a New Audio App Help You Train, Think and Sleep Better?
The brainchild of an LA music producer who’s worked with Snoop Dogg, Amy Winehouse and Gwen Stefani, the new Sines app is like a Spotify for sound therapy.
It offers hundreds of tracks, each of which is carefully tuned to a specific frequency to induce different mental states, from enhancing focus and energy, to boosting creativity. It even claims to improve your workouts.
But how effective is it? MH tuned in to find out.
How It Works
The Sines app is pretty basic. Its library of soundtracks is curated into playlists that target the vibes you want to unlock, including collections for meditation and sleep. There’s even one for joy. The tracks last anywhere from a few minutes up to half an hour and there are five guided playlists that coach you into an altered mind state.
What the Science Says
Your brainwaves operate on a range of wavelengths. Lower frequencies are related to relaxed, meditative, or drowsy states; higher frequencies with focus and alertness.
A number of studies suggest that tuning into binaural beats helps shift our brainwaves. Binaural audio works by playing sounds at two different frequencies of less than 1,000Hz into each ear. As you listen, your brain hears a third tone at the difference in frequency between the two.
Hearing this auditory illusion at different binaural frequencies is thought to produce varying effects. Delta waves promote deep sleep. Theta aids relaxation and creativity. Alpha enhances positivity and reduces anxiety. While beta waves increase concentration, alertness and memory.
In one study, listening to binaural music cut participants’ cortisol levels virtually in half. It also increased melatonin – critical to restful sleep – by up to 98% and boosted levels of DHEA, a hormone linked to longevity, by 43%.
How We Tested the App
Our tester used the app for a fortnight at key moments during his day: in the morning to boost focus, before workouts, during times of stress and at bed time. He tracked his heart rate and sleep, and kept a journal to record how he felt before and after using the app.
The Good:
The ‘Focus’ tracks stood out in tests. A bit like audio blinkers, our tester found they shut out the world and helped him zero in on tasks while also boosting mental clarity.
The Okay:
Some playlists were a bit of a hard listen. The fitness tracks aren’t your regular upbeat workout tunes. However, the more metronomic tunes helped with running, rowing and pulsing cardio.
The Less Good:
It’s not totally clear when it’s best to fire up the different tracks, or how long to listen for. Our tester would have liked some deeper insights and instructions.
The MH Verdict
Our tester did notice a shift in mood, reporting better sleep, enhanced focus and a better heart rate variability (HRV) score: an indicator of the body’s ability to handle stress.
The guided meditations proved helpful antidotes to stress. However, you can find free binaural audio on Spotify and YouTube. What you pay for here is a collection of tracks Sines claims are more effective. But their power to induce the moods you want partly comes down to personal taste.
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