These $6 Earplugs Actually Changed The Way I Sleep

And I've tried everything, you guys.

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Hello, my sweets. No, not you, dear reader — I'm talking about these earplugs, which have gifted me with the best sleep I've had in the last five years of living in New York and dealing with chronic insomnia.

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They're Flents Contour Ear Plugs, and they've been a sleep game-changer for me.

I first heard about these earplugs when I asked the BuzzFeed Community about the best products that help them get a quiet night of sleep. They came highly recommended by readers and Amazon reviewers alike, so I decided to test them for myself.

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My sleeping issues all started when I graduated college, and the stresses of city life and living in the age of social media made me anxious almost all of the time.

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I can safely say that between 2014 and 2016, I didn't have a single night of deep, uninterrupted sleep. The only times I was able to actually seduce my mind into shutting off and catching at least five to six hours of z's were when all the conditions for rest — including an absolutely silent room — were perfectly in place.

Back to these things, though. These earplugs really are the best sleep aid I've found for under $10. They fit snugly, don't fall out (for the most part), and smooth out background noise.

Michelle No / BuzzFeed

Putting them in literally feels like I'm hitting the mute button on my life. As per another fan's recommendation, I use mine by rolling each earplug into a cylinder, pulling my ear upwards, inserting it, and holding it there for 30 seconds as it slowly expands and conforms to my ear canal. In just a few seconds, the buzz of outside street noise, whatever my roommate is watching on Netflix, and my humming A/C fades into nothingness. Aaaand *exhale*.

The secret to these sleep-savers is in their contoured shape and squishy memory foam, which makes for non-itchy, non-painful earplugs that STAY in there once they're fully expanded. See their expansion in action below. 👀

Michelle No / BuzzFeed

I've tried at least four other brands of earplugs — including super-dense ones meant to block out the loudest of noise (these turned out to be uncomfortable verging on painful) as well as more generic ones without the contour (which would fall out with the least bit of tossing and turning) — and none were as comfortable or worked as effectively as my Flents plugs.

On a side note: I HAVE had them fall out of my right ear a few times, because for some reason my right ear is narrower than my left, but they at least always stay in during the crucial "initiation" phase of my sleep. For the most part, when these are in, they stay in.

I recently gave a pair to a friend who'd just moved from the New Jersey suburbs to NYC and had been complaining about street noise. Her review? "😍😍😍 I napped with the earplugs you gave me and I slept so well!"

And if you can't trust a writer and a sleep-deprived grad student, then you can at least believe the 142 five-star reviews.

Get a 10-pack from Amazon for $6.58. And finally get that much-needed sleep. 😴