# Will an indoor waterfall in my bedroom be soothing or give me insomnia? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636 "2015-05-09T17:14:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/1 "2015-05-09T17:14:19Z")
I love the sound of falling water. Would an indoor fountain / waterfall in my bedroom be soothing and help me sleep, or will it keep me awake and give me insomnia? I don’t have any major problems sleeping and my neighborhood is relatively quiet (outside sounds do not keep me up), but sometimes I have trouble sleeping (as I assume most people do). ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/2 "2015-05-09T17:33:34Z")
I don’t know. But I know it would make me pee in the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/3 "2015-05-09T17:40:29Z")
If you’re not careful with keeping it clean, it will give you Legionnaire’s Disease. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/4 "2015-05-09T17:41:57Z")
I liked having an aquarium with a bubbling filter in the bedroom but my wife didn’t. There’s no way for me to tell how you would like it. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/5 "2015-05-09T17:59:53Z")
I put a ‘water feature’ in my garden. I could hear it at night (I live in the countryside) and it helped me sleep. ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/6 "2015-05-09T18:53:26Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t know. But I know it would make me pee in the bed. Me too! ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/7 "2015-05-09T19:25:49Z")
You can tune waterfalls so that they produce that pleasant burbling sound as opposed to the splatter of a cow pissing on a rock. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/8 "2015-05-09T19:30:20Z")
I bought a cheap tabletop fountain because my kid was obsessed with the texture of water, and I really liked it. Helped me focus my head, kind of hypnotic. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/9 "2015-05-09T19:42:14Z")
I use an noisemaker in my bedroom, but I’ve had the joy of being in a cabin near a real waterfall, and it was wonderful. Rain on the roof is also beautiful. If nothing else, distant traffic is soothing – until the fire-truck wails past. It’s totally individual. What works for one person might fail horribly for the next. Warning: if you go with an electronic sound-maker, check that it generates the sound, rather than plays a recorded sound. The sound has to be random. If the device has a sequence of sound in memory, and just plays that over and over – you’ll eventually learn it, and start to anticipate bits of it. ("Oh, we’re coming up on the place where the water “plops.” “Plop.” “Yep. Every 48 seconds.”) I have a little travel device that has a 9 second loop. It’s not restful. It’s hideous! ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/10 "2015-05-11T11:37:06Z")
I tried [mynoise.net](http://mynoise.net) last night and it was perfect. There are lots of sounds and you can adjust the sound spectrum and volume, etc. So I’m not going to get an actual fountain. Thank you to everyone who gave their ideas! ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/11 "2015-05-11T13:06:46Z")
There are plenty of youtube movies of this sort of thing. Play one over a few evenings and see what impact it has on your sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/12 "2015-05-11T13:19:52Z")
I used to have a fish tank in my bedroom. I got a new filter for it that made kind of a waterfall sound. The first night I had it, I think I was up six times to go to the bathroom. I got used to it after a while, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/13 "2015-05-11T13:59:40Z")
Well, it beats having an outdoor waterfall in your bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/14 "2015-05-11T14:04:17Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > You can tune waterfalls so that they produce that pleasant burbling sound as opposed to the splatter of a cow pissing on a rock. That’s what I want, a bedroom waterfall that looks like a cow pissing on a flat rock but it actually makes a pleasant, burbling sound. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/15 "2015-05-11T18:38:37Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > That’s what I want, a bedroom waterfall that looks like a cow pissing on a flat rock but it actually makes a pleasant, burbling sound. Be sure to pay extra for the optional splash guard. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-an-indoor-waterfall-in-my-bedroom-be-soothing-or-give-me-insomnia/719636/16 "2015-05-11T19:08:07Z")
While individual preferences vary, water definitely helps me. One of the reasons I build a pond/waterfall in my backyard is so that I listen to it at night. It’s also loud enough to drown out a little bit of traffic and pet noise from the neighborhood so I’m eliminating some negative noises.