Evolution. Our caveman ancestors who found quieter (therefore secluded) places to sleep out-survived people who did something as vulnerable as sleeping in places with lots going on. More survival = outbreed the competition.
Fast forward a few thousand years and here we are, all descended from the ones who couldn’t sleep in noisy places and risk getting ambushed, eaten or stabbed or something.
It’s easy to forget or not realize that behaviors and instincts are evolved just like legs and organs are. Brains are physical too!
It’s kinda like trying to read a book while someone is repeatedly poking you in the arm. Sound is basically a constant stimulus that your brain has to acknowledge. When it’s quiet, your brain can chill and let you drift off, but with noise, it’s in “alert mode” and thinks you might need to do something about it.
Its more inconsistent noise, and a lot or loud noises are harder to ignore, as they’re less predictable. You can ignore two people talking, but a phone call is one sided and requires thought to fill in possible blanks. Sometimes subconsciously you can’f even ignore that, the mystery, the missing information to complete a whole.
As for a lot of noise, my best naps were at my friends metal band’s jam space. Small room, I had plugs in but it was loud. I’d pass out on the coach in front of the amps in full light and the like wall of really loud noise was almost southing. I did not like their music though. I think it was that its so loud you can’t hear any movement, not even your own. So close eyes, no movement sensed, you get real calm.
You can, once you get used to it. I used to live 2 houses away from a railroad track. Directly across the street from a factory that did metal stamping, that you could clearly hear inside the house during the daytime hours. I happened to work nights, so when i went to bed, you could hear the constant booming of the big press running. And of course, the constant sound of trains and their horn when approaching the crossing.
At first, it was difficult because they were all new, unexpected sounds. But once you got used to it, you didn’t even notice any of it.
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