Sleep loss can be actually a widespread problem with serious physical and financial consequences. Music such as white noise relaxation could impact upon psychological, physical and emotional states, which may explain anecdotal reports of its success being an everyday sleeping aid. However, there's a lack of systematic data regarding how widely it's used, why people elect for music for a sleep aid, or what music works; thus the underlying drivers to music-sleep effects continue to be uncertain. We investigated music as being a sleep aid over the general public with a mixed techniques data online survey (n = 651) that scored musicality, sleep habits, and also open text responses on what music can help sleep and why. In general, 62% of respondents stated they used music to help them sleep. They reported two musical genres comprising 545 artists. Regression tree modelling shown that younger people with higher musical engagement were considerably more inclined to make use of music to aid sleep. Thematic analysis of their open text answers generated four topics that described why folks believe music will help sleep: music offers exceptional properties which excite sleep (Supply ), music is part of a typical sleep pattern (Habit), music induces a bodily or mental state conducive to sleeping (Condition ), along with music cubes an internal or external stimulation that will otherwise disrupt sleep (Distract). This survey offers new evidence into the association between music and sleep in a people which ranged widely in age, musicalityand sleep habits and stress grades. Specifically, the results highlight the pathways of effect between music and sleep. Diversity was observed both in music choices, which reflected idiosyncratic preferences rather than any consistent musical structure, and at the reasons why music supports good sleep, which moved far beyond simple physical/mental comfort.