Isn't it funny that the big recording companies charge so much for something that is their attempt to try to help you relax. Till you get the credit card bill or bank statement, anyway.

Sadly though, at least half the time the sounds and music they put together really doesn't help as much as you would like them to.

Why not make your own relaxation tapes. At least that way you can personalise what goes on them and make your own relaxation or white noise recordings to suit your own private tastes.

The other point is that it is also a personal thing, which will remind you of real experiences, if it is a record of a visit to a park, beach, forest or a favourite place, etc. This has got to help if it can bring back personal memories from a happier and more relaxed moment from your own past.

For some people, like my older children, it's just the ‘white' noise of a fan or air conditioning unit running that they need to get them to sleep.

Well wouldn't it be cheaper to record and play back that sound for an hour or so on a recording, rather than have it run every night, all night, whether it is needed or not.

For me a Relaxation tape would have to include the sounds from my own backyard of a morning or afternoon. With the sounds of lorikeet's and top knot pigeons etc feeding from the feeding and watering stations we maintain. The sounds of wind blowing through the trees and the windchimes tolls their merry tunes.

These parts of the day on my back patio are my focus moments of the day. When I can gather myself at the beginning or end of a stressful day, watching and listening to these wonderful native birds chattering, courting and fighting are the music of my personal breaks in the day.

If you are making a recording in public, try to pick a period of time when extraneous noise, eg. cars, building work, trains, siren's etc will be minimized.

The best times are early in the day, weekends or public holidays. Though you can get software for your computer, which will allow you to cut and join mp3's if there is the occasional outside noise that annoys you when you play it back. .

Or if someone around is good at mixing you might even be able to add your own music to it.

Another use for these types of recording is as a prop to assist in dealing with children or clients who have processing or behavioural issues, eg Autism & Asperger's.

These types of recordings can be used to distract or make a force a break in their problems if used by someone who has an idea of what the person is trying to communicate and what interests and obsessions are uppermost in the person's mind.

Most parents or carers when trying to relax people who are intellectually challenged or behavioural or both will try music or a favourite movie or TV show, but why stop there. Why not a recording of a series of adds from TV or Radio, if that's what appeals to the person?

What about using an audio recording of say sirens, if the person has a fascination for fire engines or police. Or of a plane going by or taking off from an airport, if their fixation is on planes or it could be the sounds of a railway station or of steam trains etc.

My own son loves a few particular audio books that he owns, so I tend to play tracks from these at times, or a theme song or part of the dialogue from the dreaded Pokemon ™ animated TV series. These I have prepared and ready to go whenever I am home when I am call into his school. As well as having backup tracks of other things if one or the other isn't working, as well as I want it to.

I also carry some different audio recordings of music, audio books, dialogue, adds, and shows, with me when I am working out in the community.

These however, can be overused if you are not careful. So you will have to watch out for when they are loosing their effectiveness, and have alternatives ready and available.

Though hold onto the original recordings because you can probably reuse them sometime later down the track when they haven't been heard in a while.