When I first moved to New York, I struggled to fall asleep sometimes because of the noise in my building. I actually lived in a pretty quiet neighborhood at the time (Upper West Side). The building was old though — a beautiful brownstone — but the type of old NYC building that had paper thin walls and floors. I would hear the downstairs neighbor’s baby crying in the mornings on the weekends, or hear my roommate watching TV in the living room outside my bedroom door at night.
My Hunt for Ear Plugs
This became really distracting when I was trying to fall or stay asleep. I knew I had to come up with a solution to block out the noise! I talked to my roommate about it, and she said sometimes she liked to use a white noise machine. I looked into that, and tried falling asleep to different playlists or ocean sounds. This didn’t really work that great for me though. One of my friends recommended ear plugs, so I went to the drugstore and picked up a pair. The ones they sold at Duane Reade (and most drugstores) didn’t do it for me. I thought to myself… there HAS to be something better out there!
The Ultimate Ear Plug Discovery
I’m glad I was so determined, because eventually I stumbled upon the ultimate discovery that improved the quality of my sleep ever since: 3M Foam Ear Plugs! The reviews on Amazon sold me. They have 4.6 out of 5 stars and over 1,000 ratings right now. Pretty solid validation if you ask me. i wholeheartedly agree with the reviews. They are good quality and very effective, and I still use them after eight years. I sleep with them every night. I love that Amazon sells big packs of them too, because they last a while. I tend to replace the ear plugs every few weeks.
How to Use the 3M Foam Ear Plugs
All you have to do to use them properly is to take one in between your pointer finger and thumb, and start rolling it back and forth until it shrinks down in volume to a little torpedo shape that you can easily insert into your ear. You then take that rolled up ear plug and slowly insert it into your ear and let go. It will start to “re-inflate” itself and then stay in place. Then you repeat that with the other ear plug and put it in the other ear. It might feel weird at first, but you really do get used to it. It blocks out noise SO well that it really allows you to quickly fall asleep.
Why I’m Still Using Them After 8 Years
I usually fall asleep within like 5 or 10 minutes of putting them in. I live in a pretty noisy area of Manhattan where I can typically hear a lot of car traffic and ambulances outside my window, but I don’t hear any of this when I have the ear plugs in. When I tell my friends about the ear plugs, one question I get a lot is: can you still hear any sounds? Can you still hear your alarm in the morning? YES. Don’t worry, you can still hear your alarm and you won’t sleep through it. (Make sure the volume is pretty high up to be extra safe though.) I have never had an issue with this and I do still wake up to my alarm each morning. It’s really more of the random little annoying noises that get blocked out with the ear plugs, and this is what makes all the difference in the world for falling asleep.
If you’re having trouble falling asleep because of city or apartment noise or a snoring partner, I DEFINITELY recommend checking these ear plugs out. I recommend them to everyone I know because they have seriously made such a difference for me!
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