If you use music/podcasts as a sleep aid, what do you listen to?

[oddsandends]

I often wake in the early hours and need something to help me sleep.There are plenty of threads for baby sleep music, but I didn't see any for adults. I've tried soundtracks aimed as sleep aids, such as rain, white noise, relaxing musak, but end up lying there, relaxed in body, but mind active, thinking how awful they are. I've tried more general playlists like "peaceful piano" or gentle pop music but if I do start to drift off the changes in pace and pitch between the tunes can jolt me awake. If you have something that works reliably for you, what is it?

I wear my shokx bone conduction headphones as they sit on the cheekbone rather than in the ear. I have the band going up or forward rather than behind my head as I sleep on my back and it wouldbe less comfy to lie on

Weirdly, I use baby sleep aids on Youtube quite a bit. Lots of good ones out there but yesterday found a no/low-blue light one which was great:

https://www.youtube.com/@SleepytimeNightLights

Also - podcasts, especially pretty much anything from the BBC, does the trick too!

Calm App. Idris elba. Reading a story about Lesotho a country I’ve been to. I never hear Much of it. Out like a light every time !

Another vote for the Calm app, loads of good stuff. Worth every penny. I use it for daytime naps too - don't necessarily go to sleep but totally relaxes me for 20 mins or so, I power through rest of the day.

I listen to historical novels on Audible. I’d be lost without it.

Exactly this. Or "pink" noise.

It’s so interesting what different people “need”.

Personally, I need something I’m interested in, but not too interested in. I’ve settled on a rotation of

• Boring History For Sleep - new episodes daily, no ads, free, listen on 0.8 speed. This mostly works but if my brain needs something a bit more “real” in terms of engaging, I like to listen to
• Sean Carroll’s Mindscape - philosophy and physics podcast, I listen on 0.9.

I can’t do anything too animated, but it does need to be something my brain naturally engages in.

I need the same kind of thing - I need to trick my brain into thinking I’m not actually trying to sleep, but not actually get too drawn in.

I listen to In Our Time usually, a couple of episodes that I have listened to once ‘for real’, an interested in the topic but know enough about it that I don’t need to be actively listening. Sometimes Youre Dead to Me depending on guest/ topic - but that has some loud jingles here and there that sometimes jolt me out of it.

Sleep cycle app has some good ones, Calm is great too

I've got a selection on Audible I rotate listening to. My favourites are Sleep Sound with Jamie Dornan or a meditation one or if i wake in the night Pride and Prejudice read by Rosamund Pike as I know it so well and the narration is good.

Poor sleeplessness, GQT on R4 works every time. Their voices are so soothing, but natural at the same time. And anything else with that kind soothing voice vibe. But if I actively want to stay awake and listen then the Wondery British Scandal Podcasts are good and also The Rest is History.

CreepsMcPasta - great stories but I find his voice hypnotic and fall asleep in minutes 🤣

Chris Skinner's countryside podcast.

BBC 4 documentaries on iplayer
stacey Dooley going to a convent also on iplayer
something rhymes with purple podcast. About the route of words
you're dead to me and the rest is history podcasts

i find i need something interesting but not too interesting and nothing food based as my stomach starts rumbling

BBC Sounds: Hugh Bonneville reading Sherlock Holmes’s short stories
Gardeners Question Time

Gardeners Corner…David Maxwell’s voice lulls me off to sleep!
Agatha Christie short stories on Libby, the library app.

The Sleepy Bookshelf.

It sends me to sleep every time and takes me ages to finish a book. I find Elizabeth's voice very soothing and she reads classic stories to you. She does a recap at the start of each episode as to what happened in the story last time so it doesn't matter if you fall asleep as she's reading.

I also like Nothing Much Happens. Short stories that are calming and the clue is in the name..... nothing much happens in them. But they'll be soothing things like a Librarian sorting books or someone making jam. She reads the story twice, the second time more slowly but I'm usually asleep by that point.

I just listen using Spotify on my phone, playing out loud so I don't need earphones and with a sleep timer on so it'll turn itself off after an hour.

Strangers on a Bench podcast , Tom Rosenthal, free on Spotify. A new one every Monday.

There's an amazing podcast called "Nothing much happens" and someone on MN recommended it. A lady tells a story twice & literally nothing much happens but the stories are so soothing that you drop off to sleep. It really does work for me.

This is my favorite too! There's a similar one, by Catherine Carr, called Where are you going?' which is great too.

@Tinytigertailthanks, I’ll look for that.

Radio 3 Sleep Tracks on the Sounds app - classical music interspersed with a variety of soothing sounds, from ticking clocks to railway journeys, to thunderstorms and underwater noises. It’s really lovely: fifteen minutes of heavy rain and Elgar and I’m out like a light.

My mil uses the shipping forecast.

ive just discovered pink noise on Spotify. I set it for 20 mins and am always asleep before it finishes.

I listen to history podcasts or books on history. My favourites at the moment are Dr Suzie Edge’s books as they combine history and medicine which are my two favourite subjects and she narrates them herself. Her voice is very soothing.

Yes came on to say this one. Works for me !