The 5 Best Podcasts To Listen To While Trying To Fall Asleep

Trying to fall asleep can be quite a struggle. Perhaps it's not a challenge for you, but rather you simply need something to relax you as you transition into your regular sleeping schedule. Whatever your sleeping situation may be, there are many different methods people use when they need that extra assistance during their nighttime routine. Some people read a book before bed to help relax their mind while others might need to watch something on television. Meditation, mindfulness, and listening to music are a few other ways amongst many that people partake in to help them fall asleep (via Medical News Today).

Now, there are podcasts that are specifically created to help you fall asleep. A variety of sleep-focused podcasts feature stories, light music, meditation, and more as a way to help ease, or in a way "bore" you into a calm, relaxed state of mind to be able to fall asleep better (via Time Out). With each podcast's approach, you have many options to choose from when thinking about which format might best help you.

"Sleep with Me" is a podcast that provides a unique form of storytelling that is meant to distract your brain as it was created from a place of pain brought from insomnia. The form of these stories brings obscurity and a playfulness that "progressively gets more boring" until you are able to fall asleep. "It is meant to keep you company so you're not alone in the deep, dark night, to take your mind off stuff so you could fall asleep," creator of the podcast, Drew Ackerman who goes by Scooter, says in some of his podcast episodes. It's a rambling of sorts combined with soft jingles that leads you into a deep doze.

Yoga and meditation teacher Kathryn Nicolai created "Nothing Much Happens: Bedtime Stories For Adults" to help anyone who needs the extra assistance to fall asleep at night. This podcast takes a storytelling approach with plot lines that are meant to be calm where, well, "nothing much happens" in the story. It takes the mundane and describes it in a way that is calming and relaxing for the mind to become distracted from all of the day's chaotic thoughts. Additionally, the story is then told twice. When the story is told the second time, it is told at a much slower pace with more pauses in between.

"Tracks to Relax: Guided Sleep Meditations" has a small, but mighty variety of options to help you fall asleep. This app was created and voiced by certified master hypnotist, N.L.P. practitioner, and creative director Alan and voice artist, business manager, and podcast producer Nikki. Its approach mainly includes guided sleep meditations, but also bedtime stories, daytime meditations, mindfulness, and a self-care focus. Its goal is to bring your body and mind into a deep state of relaxation through its techniques.

This podcast — called "Slow Radio" by the BBC — features calming music as well as various recordings of many nature sounds. This is perfect for anyone who can't handle the voices and the talking of other sleep podcasts with that focus. For example, their episode "Sounds of the Earth" combines music with sounds from nature such as rain, cattle, a wren bird singing from a tree, and many more varieties of sounds from around the world. In a way, listeners are put into these settings with the sounds to encourage a peaceful imagination.

"Sleep Whispers" created by professor of physiology at Shenandoah University in Virginia, Dr. Craig Harris Richard, offers readings and ramblings about anything and everything told through whispering. These whispered readings include interesting stories, tranquil poems, Wikipedia articles, and meditations amongst other techniques like trivia or things that will bore you to sleep. By the strategic use of whispering, it is meant to relax and calm you for the end of the night when you're ready to clear your mind and fall asleep.