How To Use Your Mac To Relieve Stress And Block Out Annoyances Of The Day

My Mac is a multi-talented machine. It’s what I use to get things done, and that both creates stress, and helps reduce stress.

With one single Mac app I can reduce stress even more. The Mac can block out annoying sounds and distractions from home or office, or even help put you to sleep faster.

All you need is the right Mac app and a good set of speakers.

Outside of iTunes music and YouTube, what sounds come out of your Mac? It’s beeps and buzzes and alerts and alarms, and the clickety clack of your fingers dancing across the keyboard.

What’s soothing about that? SonicMood is an app I found last week that brings ambient music and sounds to the background of whatever you’re doing on the Mac.

If you’re thinking of a simple sound app that plays soothing background harmonies with babbling brooks and drizzling rain, think again.

Yes, SonicMood does that, but it also does much more. The sounds of a garden, water flowing, crickets and birds all can be combined with mood music– instruments designed to live in the background but rest your soul.

SonicMood blends natural sounds with relaxing instruments to build soothing, restful background sounds. The interface looks complicated, but there are enough presets ready to go that you won’t be inclined to build your own sounds right away.

Each ambient sound is live, so the variety of backgrounds sounds and music is infinite.

There are harmonies of sound and nature, all of which can be customized by scale, timing, and randomization parameters that you control.

Even when the sound volume is up, the backgrounds remain soothing and not distracting.

It comes with 40 pre-defined moods and 21 nature sounds, but you can add your own, or create custom moods with the built-in editor.

Now, here’s the best part. Whatever you create can also be recorded and then plunked into iTunes so they’ll show up on your iPod, iPod touch, or iPhone.

With a few clicks your Mac becomes the orchestra conductor of mood music and nature sounds. This is really sweet and one reason I’ve fallen asleep a few times while browsing the web.