A Q&A with Dr. Meredith Broderick
Triple Board-Certified Sleep Expert and Clinician.

Q: Environmental sounds affect many people, from street noise to a snoring partner or loud roommates. How does noise masking help address these disruptions, and how is it different from noise cancellation? 

Noise masking and noise cancellation both aim to reduce the impact of unwanted sounds, but they work in different ways and are suited to different scenarios.  Noise masking adds a layer of consistent pleasant sound to the environment to cover up the disruptive sounds so that the brain pays less attention to it.  It also helps to train the brain to become a cue for relaxation or sleep.  

Noise cancellation uses microphones to detect sounds and then emits anti-noise signals so they cancel each other out.  It’s less effective for sudden noises.

Q: Can you explain the science of sound, whether it’s white noise, music, or calming soundscapes, and how these signal safety to the body and help us fall asleep?

Our brains evolved to stay alert to environmental cues. Sound plays a critical role in the “safety vs. threat” assessment that the nervous system constantly performs — even while we sleep.  The auditory system is like the night watchman so if you add predictable pleasant sounds to the environment you can help train the brain it is a signal for safety.  

Q: Stress and a “racing mind” are among the most common sleep challenges. From your experience, what strategies work best to quiet the mind and make it easier to drift off?

A racing mind usually means you’re running life at full throttle — overscheduled, overstimulated, and with zero margin for mental idle time. Your brain needs that downtime to process and reset. Think of it as giving your mind permission to “daydream.”

The fix? Build in mental pit stops. Take a phone-free walk. Journal. Sit in silence and let your thoughts wander.

Make it a habit by creating a buffer period — a hard stop between the chaos of the day and the calm of bedtime. Dim the lights, power down devices, and let your body know it’s safe to shift gears. If racing thoughts still crash your bedtime, get out of bed. Do something quiet and soothing until sleepiness returns.

Q: You’ve said you’re not a fan of the phrase “sleep is the foundation of health.” Can you share why, and what framing you prefer instead?

While I appreciate the emphasis of sleep being a foundational component of health, I think it is important to look at the big picture and recognize that life, by definition, will have periods of time when it is more difficult to sleep.  The newborn period is a perfect example, there are times in our lives we should expect to have less than perfect sleep and not feel that we have lost our foundation.  If we take a more holistic approach, during those times we can focus on our nutrition or exercise or mental health and experience indirect benefits to our sleep.  I see different pillars of our health like sleep as synergistic with each other.  Nowadays people get obsessed with having perfect sleep and it isn’t always the most constructive mindset to have about sleep. 

Q: There is a lot of misinformation online about Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) and sleep health. What do you tell patients who are concerned about this, and why aren’t you worried about potential EMF exposure from wearable devices like Ozlo Sleepbuds? 

First of all, the EMF emitted from Ozlo Sleepbuds is very low energy Bluetooth and even offers phone-free mode making it lower energy than traditional headphones.  But also, there are large studies done in hundreds of thousands of people showing that mobile phone use has not increased brain tumors.  There are a lot of EMFs all around us whether it is wi-fi or our electrical car batteries and even if there is a health hazard to EMFs, these are a much less significant threat.  

Q: Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of sleep science -  whether it’s technology, behavioral insights, or how we think about rest in our daily lives?

I am excited about applications of artificial intelligence to help us have better tools for diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and delivering personalized care.  I think the current model we use to conceptualize sleep into four sleep stages will be obsolete. I am also incredibly excited to see the evolution of the Ozlo Sleepbuds as we transition into wearable and nearable services.