This ‘hidden’ Alexa feature turns your Echo speaker into a white noise machine – here’s how to do it

When it comes to sleep, it seems that we’ll all do just about anything to make sure we get a good night’s rest, from eating certain foods before bed to trying breathing hacks. But what if I told you that your Echo smart speaker has a ‘hidden’ Alexa feature that can help improve your sleep night after night.

Sleep sounds, like rain, thunder and underwater audio or white, pink and brown noise, can make a world of difference to your sleep. I’m currently testing a wake up alarm and sound machine, and as soon as the sleep time audio begins to play, my husband is out like a light so listening to sleep sounds can really help you fall asleep quicker.

But you don’t need a fancy separate device if you don’t want one. In fact, you can turn your Echo speaker into a white noise machine with this simple Alexa command – here’s how.

With your Echo speaker or smart display, simply say “Alexa, open White Noise” and it’ll start to play. The white noise sound will continue to play or loop until you ask Alexa to stop, or you can customise it to play for a prolonged period of time by saying “Alexa, play White Noise for an hour.”

As your Echo smart speaker acts as a hub for your other smart devices, you could create your own nighttime routine in the Alexa app that you can incorporate the White Noise feature into. For example, when you say “Alexa, start my nighttime routine”, you could customise it to dim your smart lights in your bedroom and start to play White Noise.

There are many different types of sleep noises but white noise is probably the most popular. Compared to pink and brown, white noise sounds like the constant sound of static on a radio or TV, air conditioner or fan. It’s quite gentle so it won’t disturb your sleep but instead can help you fall asleep quickly and more peacefully, and block out unwanted noise.

Aside from white noise, Alexa can play different sleep sounds, depending on your preferences. Free to enable – just like the White Noise feature – all you have to do is say “Alexa, open Sleep Sounds” and you can choose from over 125 options.

For more Alexa sleep tips, check out these 5 Alexa hacks to help you sleep better.