Soaak app review: 'I tried sound frequencies for sleep and PMS'
What's one thing I want to try in bed? Getting eight hours of sleep.
I don't have trouble nodding off; I just don't get to do it enough. After post-gym laundry and eating ultra-processed snacks, it's around midnight, and even reaching over and turning the light off feels like an effort.
Recently, I came across Soaak Technologies, a health-tech company that uses a 'whole-person' approach to reduce anxiety and stress and boost energy. Their portfolio includes an app using 'transformational' sounds - auditory frequencies or therapies perfectly pitched to achieve deeper REM sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.
As a...refresher, REM is the last stage of four in the sleep cycle. On average humans go through between four and six cycles per night, with each one lasting 90-110 minutes. Standing for 'rapid eye movements', REM sleep comes after the deepest stage, and the eyes dart quickly and rapidly from side to side for about 10 minutes to an hour. Breathing quickens and becomes irregular, as does your blood pressure and heart rate. It's the stage most associated with dreaming and your body becomes immobile to stop you from acting out these visions.
I was interested, even if unconvinced that I needed help with my sleeping patterns. Nevertheless, in the name of being a WH guinea pig, for two weeks I decided to try the hugely popular sleep programme, as well as another client favourite, PMS Support, to see if they offered me any respite, relief or relaxation. All of the Soaak frequencies have three tracks: Original, Nature and Music.
The Soaak App is available to download from the App Store or on Google Play. Subscriptions cost US $29.99 per month, or $299.99 a year. A 7-day free trial is also available, and you can sign up to 21-day immersion programmes.
Meet the experts: Dr Sophie Bostock is a sleep expert and founder of The Sleep Scientist; Dr Helena Tucker is a clinical psychologist, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and premenstrual exacerbation (PME) specialist; Kate Codrington is a therapist, menopause mentor and author of The Perimenopause Journal: Unlock Your Power, Own Your Wellbeing, Find Your Path
Soaak Sleep Well
The Sleep Well tracks supposedly 'support falling asleep faster, less tossing and turning, deeper REM sleep, and waking up refreshed and energised.'
According to Soaak, this track is designed using 'a blend of clinically curated sound frequencies' that 'target brainwave patterns' associated with relaxation, helping the brain 'reach states conducive to restorative and deep sleep'. The track incorporates 'calming elements like gentle soundscapes and harmonics that naturally slow down the brain’s activity'.
Soaak's team, including medical and naturopathic doctors, and osteopathic-medicine experts, determined this unique combination through extensive research and testing on sleep cycles and brainwave patterns, to find the optimal balance that effectively addresses common sleep disruptions like anxiety, overthinking, and irregular sleep cycles.
Original
To unwind in bed, I usually turn to YouTube and mindless online browsing, and words are always involved. Having only noises to focus on just doesn't sound like it'll be for me. However, I hit play.
I get a bright, clear ringing in my ears, like a softer alarm or fire drill. Think of the clang of a small bell, but if it were somehow transmitted using a tuning fork into water, producing a high-pitched, repetitive series of audible vibration ripples. Each lasts about a second and this regular rhythm plays solidly for 20 minutes. I'm wide awake by the end, and can't help but imagine hearing this soundscape in a creepy video game.
Nature
Cue rolling, crashing waves. Not the delicate kind that lap at your ankles as you take in the vista from the shore during an idyllic beach getaway, but the looming, tall, powerful walls of water that gather momentum as the tide comes in at sunset, and you're further out than you realised. Mild panic flows in as you are borne back and forth by the strong, rushing currents, barely staying afloat.
I can't tell if it's just because it's night when I'm listening, but somewhere in the ten minutes of the track playing, the sun has completely gone in my mind's image, and now I picture an inky, pitch-black sea, lit only by moonlight.
Stevie Smith's poem, 'Not Waving but Drowning', about a man who goes under because his gestures for help are mistaken for greetings rather than cries for help, drifts in and out of my consciousness. In this nightmarish sea, I sink into slumber (though I was already bone-tired anyway, tbh).
Music
A lilting, undulating melody akin to what you'd hear when cocooning yourself in plush white towels in an ylang-ylang-and-patchouli-perfumed sanctuary spa, greets you. It's pleasant, mild and unprovocative, with a slow tempo that's a good choice for feeling soothed. Think lyre, harp, lute or other instrument from the string family chiming out a tranquil, ascending ladder of four notes, then a slight variation of that scale, and that refrain on repeat.
It wasn't a particularly memorable tune. I know we're not gunning for a top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 here, but I couldn't help feeling like this sound experience was a little lacklustre. Look, it wasn't not effective or enjoyable, but it wasn't really stirring my senses or lulling me into a saccharine stupor, either.
Expert opinion
Dr Sophie Bostock, sleep expert and founder of The Sleep Scientist, says that sound frequencies for sleep is not an area which has received a lot of attention in the research.
Commenting on the studies listed on the app's website, Bostock noted: 'There is only one study which measured sleep as an outcome. It was in 15 healthy young men and tested their ability to fall asleep during the day either with 432Hz music, or with no music at all.
'Perhaps unsurprisingly, in the context of trying to sleep in an unfamiliar sleep lab, plugged into monitoring equipment, the calming music was associated with an increase in alpha type "resting" brain waves [compared to] when just lying in silence - but there was no comparison with other sound frequencies. There were no significant differences in any sleep metrics, but a non-significant trend towards falling asleep faster with music than without.'
So what are we to do instead? As Bostock advises, 'Any activity that helps you to relax, mentally and physically, is likely to have a beneficial effect on sleep quality - especially if repeated often.' Relaxation is a skill: the more we practice, the better we get.
Soaak PMS Support
When it comes to periods, I get mild to moderate cramps, but other than that have - touch wood - no symptoms. Normally I pop an Ibuprofen and just carry on with my day.
Soaak tells me that they developed this programme by working closely with integrative health professionals who advised them on the frequencies that were most effective for reducing common PMS symptoms such as mood swings, contractions, and fatigue. 'The aim is to provide a natural, non-invasive way to manage PMS symptoms by harmonising the body’s internal rhythms', they say.
PMS Support frequency is a result of research into the brain-body connection and how sound frequencies can support hormonal balance and alleviate PMS symptoms. 'It includes specific frequencies that target the body’s endocrine system, encouraging the release of endorphins and other mood-stabilising chemicals. It uses a combination of frequencies known to relieve stress, reduce pain, and promote a sense of well-being.'
Original
On a day that I'm feeling particularly moody and objectionable, I hit play on Original. A crackly, burbling overlay that resembles a less-pressurised version of space, either white or broadband noise, or static opens the track, punctuated by a couple of offbeat (if there even is a beat) snare-drum staccato snaps. As I try to adjust sonically, it stops after a few seconds, giving way to a ringing similar to the sleep frequency, but continuous: a one-note pulsation, like a radio signal produced using - again - warped jingle bells.
Beneath that, as an undertone, a lower-pitched but fuller, more 'surround-sound' noise emerges, like that produced for a split second by - and here's a truly tenuous analogy - a microphone jack as it's about to be plugged in but with background interference or electrical issues. Imagine that ear-splitting 'hnnnnggggggggoooo'. As I observe the incongruent jarring of these two juxtaposed oscillations, the gurgling gush from the opening abruptly returns and leaves again, accompanied by the snare. We continue like this until the end.
Nature
Its nature version opens with a rushing brook or stream, one perhaps that is urgent and gathering pace, as if about to reach a waterfall or plunge pool, cascading over rocks. Thunder. Softly at first, then more persistent and rumbling. Is that my menstrual storm brewing in the clearing above the surrounding forest?
Wildlife calls, initially sparse and intermittent, grow more crowded and unsettled. Frogs croak, and I seem to pick out parakeets, sparrows and seagulls squawking (unclear whether they'd all hang out in this one common auditory climate, though). Somewhere along the way, it's started raining. The track swells to a textured, uneasy, cacophonous symphony. We're in the midst of the downpour now, and then the tempest(uous cramp) crashes and breaks before softly subsiding, shedding into silence.
Music
Is that an acoustic guitar? Like with the Music track of the Sleep frequency, folky, considered strumming comes through, not dissimilar to a prolonged intro of an unplugged country B-side. It's mellow and relaxed, but (probably?) in major key, as the mood is brighter and happier than its PMS Support counterparts, making for much more uplifting and traditionally 'listenable' experience. Soothing chords chime out a cheerful ditty that leaves me feeling mentally contemplative and alert, but, as far as my womb is concerned, nothing penetrates.
Expert opinion
Dr Helena Tucker, clinical psychologist, and PMDD & PME specialist, says that some research shows that sound therapy has been shown to have a calming effect on the nervous system, supporting the reduction of stress hormones like cortisol and activating the body’s relaxation response to lower anxiety, pain, anger, fatigue, and alleviate depressed mood.
However, 'when it comes to studying specific sound therapy frequencies, research is still catching up,' she continues. Saying that, we have some promising results. 'For example, a small-scale study shows that listening to 528 Hz music reduces stress to the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system, both closely related to the female menstrual cycle.'
'I would love to see research studying sound therapy frequencies specifically with people with PMS and PMDD (people with PMS will have fewer and usually less severe premenstrual symptoms than those with PMDD), to explore its benefits and effectiveness in supporting symptom management. It may well be one of the tools people with PMS and PMDD find beneficial in getting some relief from their symptoms.'
Kate Codrington, therapist, menopause mentor and author of The Perimenopause Journal: Unlock Your Power, Own Your Wellbeing, Find Your Path is a big fan of therapies for soothing PMS: 'I know from personal and professional experience how powerfully transformative sound healing can be', she says. 'Amplified by the potency of resting, together they reduce cortisol, regulate the nervous system and consequently have a beneficial effect on hormone balance.' She suggests tuning in particularly during the premenstrual weeks, 'when we are naturally more attuned to reflection and emotional integration, and which can be particularly challenging when we are stressed.'
Codrington floats the idea of using sound frequencies before you hit menopause, so you've built up the habit: 'The more you can rest, let go, and allow the sounds to hold you through your menstruating years, the better equipped you will be for the perimenopause.'
WH verdict
Even though I didn't notice a difference in my already-mild or negligible symptoms (the times I fell asleep listening to Soaak, anything, including looking at the wall or ruminating over past failings, would've made me drift off), what surprised me was how emotive and evocative these soundscapes were. These sometimes-discordant, intricate pieces galvanised my imagination, conjuring up bizarre and unlikely parallels and dredging up forgotten references. Trying to describe the tracks made me feel like a music producer recording and manipulating everyday sounds beyond recognition for a record. I've never been a classical music listener - is this sort of mental wandering meant to happen when you have no words to 'guide' you?
It's easy to see how Soaak has gained popularity, as the frequencies force you to focus on one task - listening - and to stop thinking about the stressor you're trying to avoid. However, it's not clear to me how either of the Sleep or PMS programmes were geared specifically to each concern, though being no expert, I didn't expect it to be.
Given how much I gravitate towards listening to words, it'll be difficult to deviate from that habit. I also wasn't sure if it was just my phone, but I sometimes had difficulty playing the tracks, and had to use the site on my laptop most of the time, which was inconvenient. But it was a welcome departure from my usual routine nonetheless.
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