Human beings evolved to love noise.  In fact, the absence of noise is very alarming for us on many levels.  Our heart rate will actually increase when there is no noise at all.That's why it is recommended to work with White Noise or something in the background.  It relaxes the subconscious and allows you to focus on your work better./Why do I find the sounds of vacuum cleaners and blow dryers so relaxing?  I have not yet met a person (that I know of) who actually likes the sounds of vacuum cleaners and blow dryers. Most people complain about how loud these sounds are. I find that they put me in a very relaxing mood, completely calming my mind and body.  I was just wondering if anyone on here had a clue.Before we are born, we are surrounded by the sounds of our mothers' bodies - heart beats, breath sounds, intestinal gurgles and so on.  It may be that white noise, ambient noise, machine noises are somehow reminiscent of the sounds we heard as we developed and therefore soothing.By LOUISA PRITCHARD, The Mail on SundayLast updated at 22:00 15 July 2006Some people rely on a malty drink, others prefer a more potent nightcap and many of us still count sheep.

But football superstar Wayne Rooney surely has the most bizarre bedtime routine when he needs help nodding off.He has revealed that the only way he can fall asleep is to the roaring sound of a vacuum cleaner - and failing that he turns on girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin's hairdryer.• Rooney: I cried after being sent offHe says: "I've ruined so many hairdryers by letting them burn out. She won't let me turn on a vacuum cleaner or a fan, not when we're together."Rooney's bizarre habit bears the hallmarks of obsessive compulsive disorder - a complaint that David Beckham admits to - which drives sufferers to carry out unusual and persistent rituals.It is just one of the revelations in the multi-millionaire Manchester United player's surprising and engaging autobiography, being serialised exclusively in The Mail on Sunday, starting today.Certain to be a bestseller, Rooney's book also gives a compelling behind-the-scenes insight into the World Cup, his on-pitch encounter with United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in the explosive quarter-final against Portugal and his controversial red card.

He also defends the WAGs - wives and girlfriends of the England team - who caused controversy with their party antics and shopping expeditions in Germany during the tournament. But it is his many personal revelations which will intrigue readers.Rooney, 20, who was brought up in the working-class Croxteth area of Liverpool, plays down his 'hardman' reputation and says he thinks of himself as 'sensitive'."People look at you, and at how I happen to look especially when I'm out there on the pitch, and they imagine they know your character. But they don't," he says. "In real life I think I'm a quiet, sensitive, retiring shy person. That's my image of myself."The player, who earns £50,000-a-week, also gives an honest account of his now infamous visits to a massage parlour in Liverpool when he was 16 - and had just met Coleen.He says: "I felt so ashamed that I'd let her down so much. I've always loved her and always will, so why had I done such a shameful thing?"It's my biggest single regret in life.

I can never sufficiently make it up to Coleen - but I have tried and I am trying."Rooney also reveals that, unlike England teammate Beckham, he has a determined lack of interest in his appearance. vacuum cleaner toy targetHe says he doesn't have a particular hairstyle and has no interest in clothes. bagless hepa vacuum cleaner reviews"I don't understand those players, and there are quite a few, who turn up in the latest fashions every day. vacuum cleaners with fold down handlesThe United players have a go at me and call me a scruff."Hilariously, he tells how his teammates tease him about his choice of footwear. He said: "I get some stick in the United dressing room because I usually turn up in slippers. "

I have two pairs - just soft ordinary carpet slippers - one from Marks & Spencer and the other just a cheap pair with an England flag on the front bought from the market."The Science of Sound Machines White Noise and Your Brain: The Science of Sound Machines Even if you consistently fall asleep each night to the soothing sounds of a South American rainforest or a raging thunderstorm, you might not know why your white noise machine works for you. Is there a scientific reason artificial soft sounds can lull us to sleep? Or is white noise like an aural placebo, providing rest and relaxation just because we're convinced it's relaxing? It turns out there is a reason that white noise machines can help you fall asleep, and stay asleep. And it's not just because they mask other noises. In a story for Spirit Magazine, one neurologist explains what goes on in your brain that makes white noise machines invaluable to a sound night of sleep: Dr. Ralph Pascualy is the medical director of Northwest Hospital Sleep Center in Seattle.

He explained to me that the brain naturally craves sensory input. That's why people in sensory depravation tanks hallucinate; robbed of any stimulus, the brain creates its own. During sleep in a quiet night, any random noise, whether a passing truck or a creaking floorboard, is likely to activate the restless brain, waking you up. Constant white noise, he told me, "gives the brain a tonic signal that dampens its own internal systems." Of course, the "constant white noise" that Dr. Pascualy mentions doesn't necessarily have to come from a bedside sound machine. As our own Beth Ziegler points out in her post Sounds to Help You Fall Asleep, the whir of a fan or purr of a pet cat works just as well to tune out your brain's systems. It's not beautiful to look at, but the white noise producing Dohm-DS Dual Speed Sound Conditioner by Marpac has over 2,200 reviews on Amazon, with 1,900 of them 4-5 star ratings. And the machine can be used to not only mask distracting noise at night, but also ambient noise during the day.