Even after a long day of classes, meetings and homework, sometimes you just can’t fall asleep amid dorm noise, airplanes flying over campus and your own mind wandering. If this is the case for you, here are five audio sources designed to guide you into the dreamland.
If you find your mind racing as you try to fall asleep, the bedtime stories in the podcast “Sleep With Me” might be for you. In episodes just over an hour in length, the show’s host Drew Ackerman, nicknamed “Scooter,” talks you down into a mindset fit for sleeping and gives you some comfort before telling a story for the remainder of the episode.
Some stories are simple tales reminiscent of childhood bedtime stories, while others are a bit more unique. In Episode 1,014, for instance, the listener is lulled to sleep as Scooter reads from the JC Penny catalog, detailing each item with prices, colors and sizes. “Sleep With Me” has over 1,000 episodes with content that will keep you just interested enough before floating off to sleep.
Are you nostalgic for a time you didn’t live in? Are you wishing it was Christmas already? Are you missing those childhood naps at your grandmother’s house? No matter the case, “Nemo’s Dreamscapes” on YouTube has a sleep playlist for you.
Each three-hour video fits a niche theme designed to send viewers off to bed with a smile. The videos with songs are designed to sound as if they are coming from another room, giving them a muffled quality. In others, light rain can be heard in the background. There are Halloween and Christmas-themed videos, Disney-themed videos and videos designed to make you feel like you’re on a train. Even though each video is three hours long, you’ll be sound asleep within minutes with a guarantee of sweet dreams.
- Classical Music
Sometimes words distract our brains and keep us awake, even if we’re not actively listening. If this is a problem for you, nothing will knock you out faster than some violin and piano. There are plenty of playlists dedicated to classical music on Spotify. Some highlights include “Classical Music to Fall Asleep to <3” by iréne:D and “Beautiful, Calming, Classical Music” by Jared Kuo. These playlists consist almost entirely of true classical music, but if you’re looking for some more modern, orchestral music, put on “Instrumental Disney Covers” to experience the magic of Disney as you drift off.
If classical music makes you find yourself swept up in the symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven instead of your own dreams, don’t panic. Jim Butler has the solution with his “Deep Energy Podcast,” which features compilations of ambient sounds and music to help even the most restless sleepers.
With over 762 episodes and counting, and a new episode posted every night, Butler’s audios emulate stillness and serenity. One particularly soothing episode is “The Stillness of October.” Broken into two parts, the entire hour and a half feels like the warm hug of fall. Some other episodes you won’t make it to the end of include “The Night Sky,” “Drifting in Space” and “Future Memories.” Without pulling you too far into the music, Butler’s show blocks out the outside world and sends you into one of your own within minutes.
For those who absolutely cannot listen to music without getting sucked into it, Spotify has you covered. Spotify has published many of its own playlists designed to help you sleep, including “Nature Noise.” The playlist, with 115 sounds that last over five hours, consists solely of quiet natural sounds, from rain to birds. There’s no better way to silence loud neighbors than by pretending you’re in a rainy forest in South America. Put the playlist on loop and you can fall asleep to rain and wake up to waves crashing as if you’re on the beach — not rushing to class.
