How to Sleep With Misophonia: A Semi-Personal Guide

What Is Misophonia?

Misophonia is an intense emotional and physiological reaction to certain sounds. It is considered a neurological disorder and is a type of sound sensitivity. It is also referred to as selective sound sensitivity syndrome.

The Misophonia Institute estimates that around 15% of adults suffer from the condition.⁽¹⁾

People who have misophonia experience extreme anxiety, anger or distress when they hear certain everyday sounds. These extreme reactions are often misinterpreted by their friends, family and coworkers, who believe misophonia is nothing more than annoyance with a sound. The condition is, however, more complex and severe than that.

Misophonia triggers will trigger (pun intended) three types of reactions:

• Emotional: anger, rage, anxiety, fear, disgust

• Physical: increased heart rate, sweating, muscle tension and even ear pain

• Behavioral: violent or non-violent reactions, leaving or avoiding situations with triggering noises

People living with misophonia can develop avoidance behaviors, refusing to expose themselves to situations that can be triggering. This can affect their interpersonal relationships, their work and school life, and can lead to feelings of loneliness, isolation and even depression.

If your immediate community doesn’t understand the intense emotional reactions you have to what they perceive as ordinary sounds, living with misophonia can be very challenging. You may even occasionally lash out at a person making a triggering noise. If they dismiss your feelings of extreme agitation, your feelings of otherness will only be heightened.

What Causes Misophonia?

The cause of misophonia has not yet been determined. However, scientists believe that it is not caused by a hearing issue, but rather an issue with the way the brain filters and processes sounds.

A study published in Current Biology has found that people with misophonia showed extreme brain activity in the areas that are involved in the perception of signals within the body and their emotional processing.⁽²⁾

Another interview-based study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience has concluded that misophonia tends to run in the family. 55% of participants have stated that other family members also have the condition.⁽³⁾

While misophonia is also often associated with autism, there is no direct link between the two conditions. Those on the autism spectrum often suffer from misophonia, but neurotypical people can also be affected by it. There is no proof that one triggers the other.

How Can You Treat and Manage Misophonia?

There is currently no standardized treatment for misophonia. Some of the treatments used to manage it include:

• Talk therapy and counseling: speaking to a therapist can help you manage misophonia symptoms, learn how to modify your reactions to triggering sounds and how to process the emotions that accompany them.

• Cognitive behavioral therapy: involves identifying the negative thoughts and reactions that certain sounds cause, and replacing them with more helpful ones.

• Tinnitus retraining therapy: while originally designed to help treat tinnitus, it is also used for treating misophonia. It is a combination of counseling and sound therapy, aiming to desensitize an individual’s responses to triggering sounds.

• Misophonia management protocol: a form of sound therapy that designs a sound hierarchy. It begins with less triggering sounds, working its way up to the most triggering ones, aiming to desensitize the negative reactions to them.

• Lifestyle modifications: using earplugs or noise-canceling headphones can help you block out trigger sounds in certain situations (like at the office or during a commute). However, relying on them too often can make you too dependent on them and make your triggers worse.

Arguably, the most important management technique for misophonia is educating your community about what you are going through. If those around you are aware of your triggers, they can avoid making these sounds. If a sound triggers you, they will understand how you are feeling and won’t judge or shame you for your reactions. A supportive environment can help mitigate the emotional distress caused by specific sounds.

Common Misophonia Triggers

Misophonia triggers are often sounds that tend to be mildly annoying to most people. The difference is that people with misophonia process them differently and experience a more severe emotional reaction to them.

Repetitive sounds are a common trigger, as are sounds made by other people’s bodies.

Some of the most common misophonia triggers include:

• Chewing or crunching

• Lip smacking

• Slurping, gulping and other drinking noises

• Finger or pen tapping

• Loud breathing

• Snoring

• Throat clearing

• Sniffling

• Humming

• Whistling

• Joint cracking

• The sound of a ticking clock

• Water dripping

How to Sleep With Misophonia

The challenges of sleeping with misophonia are twofold.

If you have been triggered during the day, your body will likely go into fight-or-flight mode. You will feel irritable and anxious, which is exactly the opposite of how you should be feeling in order to fall asleep. Your body will be producing too much cortisol and adrenaline, which will lead to a reduction in the production of the melatonin and serotonin required for sleep.

Loud or unpleasant noises in the night may fragment anyone’s sleep. They may increase awakenings, reduce time in deep, restful sleep stages and increase heart rate and blood pressure.

When you have misophonia, your heightened emotional response to these sounds may wake you up even more, and you may find it very difficult to fall back asleep.

Here is what you can do to make sleeping with misophonia easier:

• Use a white noise machine to mask intrusive and triggering sounds. Choose white noise, ASMR or any other soothing sounds that don’t irritate you. You can also play some soothing music or nature sounds. If you want to block out both light and sound, you can try Manta SOUND Sleep Mask.

• You can also use earplugs during the night to keep out unwanted sounds. This is arguably the best way to ensure you aren’t woken up by unwelcome trigger noises. However, the potential downside is that you may be much more aware of trigger sounds while awake, and you may become unable to fall asleep without earplugs. Use them with caution.

• Soundproof your room as much as you can. Adding a lot of different textures to it, in the form of pillows, blankets, rugs and decorative items will ensure sound bounces around less, dampening it to an extent.

• If you can, try to eliminate the sources of triggering sounds. This might mean getting rid of any clocks, fixing the dripping tap, removing all electronics from the bedroom, or even asking your partner to sleep in the other room.

• Most importantly, learn how to manage your responses to triggering noises. You may need the help of a therapist, an audiologist or a friend. Talk to others with misophonia to learn what works for them. The misophonia Reddit community at r/misophonia is very helpful.

If your partner is the main source of your nightly triggers, your relationship may naturally begin to suffer. If their snoring, breathing, shuffling, teeth grinding or sniffling is keeping you awake, have an honest conversation about it. Try not to blame them for triggering you: they are not doing it on purpose. Explain how their noises are making you feel, and work on finding a sleeping solution that suits you both.

Conclusion

Living with misophonia can be very challenging and uncomfortable. While you can develop effective coping mechanisms, you are still likely to be exposed to triggers on many days. The better you and those around you understand your condition, the easier it will be to create lifestyle adjustments to help mitigate your symptoms.

Do you have misophonia? How do you manage it in your everyday life? Share your tips with our readers by leaving a comment!