These expertly chosen audio experiences will put you to sleep with their calming sounds, gentle stories, and background music. These podcasts are well-prepared to offer relief from the day’s worries and create the ideal environment for deep, restorative sleep. They range from bedtime stories to take you to dreamland to guided meditations that quiet your racing mind. We examine the best podcasts to fall asleep that will assist you in having a good night’s sleep.
Best Podcasts to Fall Asleep to Soothe Your Soul
If you need help falling asleep, listening to a podcast is one self-help tip you might not have thought of. Do you ever lie awake at night, watching the clock tick by as your mind races with worries and to-do lists? If so, you’re not alone. Millions of people struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep each night. Thankfully, a relaxing option that is becoming more and more popular are sleep podcasts.
1. Sleep With Me
Every 60-minute episode comprises a complicated, meandering plot with tangents intended to put listeners to sleep. After experiencing his childhood issues with insomnia, podcast host Drew “Scooter” Ackerman was motivated to start the show in 2013. He used to be able to go off to sleep listening to late-night comedy radio.
The topics and formats of episodes vary greatly, ranging from reviews of shows like Dr. Who and the Great British Bake Off to stories captured in nature. Ackerman also has a lengthy drowsy series called Game of Drones for fans of Game of Thrones.
Sleep With Me guarantees listeners will not run out of dull stories to help them fall asleep with a back catalog of more than 1000 episodes and new releases every week.
2. BBC’s Slow Radio
Slow Radio, hosted by BBC3, is one of the most well-liked podcasts to fall asleep and is hugely popular with British citizens. In addition, you will always have a consistent stream of new content to listen to because the show is updated once a week.
There are already over a hundred episodes, all of which feature ambient soundscapes of rain hitting rooftops, the sounds of the natural world, and even the sounds of London. Slow Radio can be the right choice for you if you find ambient sounds to be relaxing. Different ambient sounds are alternated throughout each episode every thirty minutes or so.
3. Nothing Much Happens
Except for the listener falling asleep, nothing much happens in these audio episodes, as the series title implies. Instead, every episode has a “bedtime story for grownups” that host Kathryn Nicolai has authored. The length of each episode, which broadcasts once a week, is between 20 and 30 minutes.
Before beginning the story, Nicolai briefly leads the listener through a relaxing breathing technique. She then rereads the story, the first at a quick tempo and the second at a slower tempo. In these stories, routine, uninteresting incidents from ordinary life are depicted. Finally, the listener can visualize a relaxing scene as they sleep by listening to descriptions of everyday objects and nature.
4. Game of Drones
This “Sleep with Me” sister podcast, also hosted by Drew Ackerman, is wild (albeit extremely sleepy). It is a series of drawn-out, excessively traveling recaps of each episode of “Game of Thrones,” usually lasting at least 90 minutes.
This effectively uses the plot to recap the show’s tendency to put viewers to sleep. There are no more being produced, of course, but you can still listen to a lot of music. In addition, if you are feeling courageous, season-long megamixes will have you droning away all night.
5. Get Sleepy
The Get Sleepy podcast’s host and narrator is Tom Jones (not that one). He is the principal voice behind a podcast of all-original stories and exercises that are carefully constructed to assist in sound sleep and are supported by a team of authors, voice actors, and meditation specialists (as well as advice from sleep experts).
Tom has gained much knowledge on the art of sleep over the past several years because he has had sleep issues and knows how difficult it can be to quiet a busy mind at night.
6. Boring Books for Bedtime
The calming effects of reading before bed are combined with content where you will not mind losing your place in this once-a-week, ad-free podcast. Sharon Handy, the host and the voice of the Great British Bake Off podcast Gin and Cake, reads from a public domain book that she describes as “not at all riveting.”
The majority are nonfiction books from the turn of the century. They range from minor works like Ernest Ingersoll’s “early history of boats” The Book of the Ocean, published in 1898, to timeless works like Aurelius’s Meditations that you may have always wanted to read. Of course, it is a bonus if you learn something before falling off in the middle of a thought.
7. Phoebe Reads a Mystery
This podcast is hosted by Phoebe Judge, who shows what we consider one of the most distinctive voices in podcasting. So it is ideal for this series, where she reads passages from timeless books like The Scarlet Letter, Little Women, and Moby Dick.
8. Sleep Whispers
If you enjoy listening to drawn-out, boring lectures, Sleep Whispers is one of the great podcast. The best thing about this show is that each episode has a new structure and does not just focus on one issue. The host will occasionally read passages from Wikipedia or other fun information, while other episodes feature bedtime stories or trivia time.
Dr. Craig Harris Richard started the podcast in 2016 due to having problems going to sleep at night since he couldn’t turn off his mind. With almost 400 episodes currently available, Sleep Whispers provides more than a year’s content to help you fall asleep quickly and peacefully.
9. Goodnight World
Why not allow one of your child’s favorite Sesame Street characters put them to sleep if you can not? When your kids do not just go to bed, it can be difficult for many new parents to get enough sleep. The Goodnight World podcast is ideal for putting kids and perhaps even you to sleep.
These beloved Sesame Street characters are the hosts of the Goodnight World podcast. Each episode is narrated by a different Sesame Street character, from Elmo to Big Bird.
In association with Sesame Street, Headspace Studios presents Goodnight World. Even adult Sesame Street fans should not be shocked when they start nodding off to the sounds of some of their favorite characters because the podcast is intended for kids. There are currently only 14 episodes total, each lasting roughly 20 minutes.
10. Deep Energy
Even if voices and bedtime stories are soothing, music or background noise might be a better option if you have trouble falling asleep while listening to them. This is what the Deep Energy podcast does.
The show’s primary goal is to spread calming new-age music to help you fall asleep or calm your mind while engaging in yoga or meditation. You may find a good episode of the show quite quickly because it has a library of over a thousand episodes.
11. Sleepy
Sleepy podcast presenter Otis Grey lulls viewers to sleep with his soothing baritone reading from great literature. Every week, listeners can enjoy 45 to 60 minutes of public domain texts, including Sherlock Holmes stories, fairy tales, and novels by Jane Austen. The stories from old books are an excellent method to put listeners to sleep on the podcast.
12. Headspace Sleepcasts
The new flow of podcasts to serves various purposes. Some help establish a bedtime pattern, while others offer nightly temporary relief. With its Sleepcasts, the Headspace app, which uses small lessons to make mindfulness practices habitual, expands that goal into the bedroom.
The 45 to 55-minute “audio journey” starts with a breathing exercise or meditation to help you relax before taking you on an audio tour of a calming scene to put you to sleep.
Those who struggle with the first rule of proper sleep hygiene, no screens, might find some relief in the seven-part Headspace Guide to Sleep video series.
13. Tracks to Relax
Tracks to Relax is a weekly collection of guided meditations for napping and sleeping. Many of the episodes are location-specific, allowing listeners to meditate and fall asleep to the sounds of the seashore, Canadian wetlands, and other environments.
Tracks to Relax also offers ambient free podcasts to help you sleep off dialogue and storytelling for listeners looking for more diversity in their sleepy tunes.
14. Send Me to Sleep
You will either find Andrew, a voice actor and host of “Sleep Geek,” to have an engrossingly hypnotic or distractingly strange diction. With “Send Me To Sleep,” which mixes Andrew’s unique tones with the typical mixture of short stories and meditation exercises, you are on to a winner if you belong to the first category.
15. Sleep Cove
The experienced hypnotherapist Christopher Fitton is the creator and host of the Sleep Cove podcast. A soothing combination of nighttime stories, ambient noises for meditation, and guided hypnosis is provided by Sleep Cove.
Mellow ambient music is played throughout each episode to help you get into the right frame of mind for sleeping. The duration usually ranges from 30 to 60 minutes.
16. Ghosthoney’s Dream Machine
The TikTok star Ghosthoney, aka Tyler Gaca, hosts this podcast, which only started in January. Every week, Ghosthoney exposes fantastical worlds of his design, complete with monsters and ghosts and accompanying tales that will calm your overworked mind at the end of a long day.
Every Thursday, new episodes of Ghosthoney’s Dream Machine are released. Some of the more strange episodes include The Goblin of All Lost Things & Stuff, in which a goblin turns out to be an evil mirror image of Ghosthoney who is slowly draining his life energy by taking hair ties and socks.
17. Stories From the Borders of Sleep
Seymour Jacklin, the host of his semi-regular sleep podcast, previously worked as a mental health nurse, so he is aware of the challenges in helping people lead happy and healthy lives.
This gave rise to Stories From the Borders of Sleep, a short story podcast from 8 to 18 minutes created or collected by Jacklin himself to help people sleep. Recently though, he has released much lengthier episodes that are all directed at adults but are also excellent for kids.
18. Sleep Life
The self-identified mission of Sleep Life is to “help you unlock your sleeping potential,” so it is one for the true sleep geeks. In addition to being calm, quiet, and all that lovely stuff, the show is hosted by Georgie Barrett and Alex Goldstein.
It also acts as a factual series about what constitutes excellent sleep hygiene, with the hosts sincerely speaking with several doctors and experts. This podcast is for you if you consider sleep a serious matter. For some people, it can be too much.
19. I Can’t Sleep
The podcast “I Can’t Sleep” is another outstanding example of the “sleep by boredom” genre. It offers slickly exhausting shows on topics like the internal combustion engine and “boring lava fields.” You know the routine, a fact-heavy, glacially-paced trek through the selected topic for the week, with a remote chance that you will relax wonderfully and learn some knowledge irrelevant to anything.
20. Snoozecast
Another storytelling podcast, “Snoozecast” stands out for having an extensive selection of classic public domain works to choose from, many of which are beloved stories for kids that are all delivered in soothing tones. Yes, kids will love it. However, its audience primarily comprises adults who enjoy losing themselves in nostalgic and comforting childhood stories.
Conclusion
Including podcasts in your bedtime routine can be a powerful method to promote relaxation and improve sleep quality. These podcasts provide a variety of calming voices, comforting stories, ambient sounds, and meditation techniques that can help listeners fall asleep quietly.
Podcasts on this list can help you relax, calm your thoughts, and find peace while you fall asleep in 2024, whether you favour guided meditations, the best bedtime podcasts for adults, or ambient music. So, put on your headphones, press play, and get ready for a good night’s sleep with these best podcasts to help you sleep.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long should I listen to a podcast to fall asleep?
The length of time you listen to a podcast to fall asleep is a personal choice. Some people find it helpful to listen for a few minutes, while others may listen for an hour or more.
Q: Will listening to podcasts while falling asleep affect the quality of my sleep?
It depends on the individual and the type of podcast they are listening to. If the podcast is calming and relaxing, it may help some people fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly. However, if the podcast is engaging or stimulating, it may have the opposite effect and disrupt sleep. It is important to find a podcast that works for you and does not interfere with your sleep quality.
Q: Are there any podcasts specifically designed to help with sleep problems?
Yes, there are many podcasts designed to help with sleep problems, such as Sleepy, Sleepyhead Stories, and Sleep Whispers. These podcasts typically include relaxing stories, guided meditations, and other sleep aids.
