5 Best Podcasts To Listen To Before Bed!

If you’re someone who has trouble getting onboard to dreamland, you might have tried many methods to coax yourself to sleep at night. Whether it's watching episodes of television until you doze off or playing your childhood comfort movie again and again until sleep finds you, the options are endless. However, instead of gluing your eyes to the stimulating blue light of your phone screen, you may want to try listening to soothing podcasts to put your mind at ease before bed. Here is a list of calm, relaxing podcasts to listen to before bed that will guarantee you a night free of tossing and turning!

1. Headspace "Sleepcasts" 

If you’ve been on the internet, you’ve likely seen one of Headspace’s advertisements. Headspace is an app that offers mindfulness tools to everyday life. Each episode of "Sleepcasts" by Headspace is an audio tour of a calming destination, such as a desert campfire or a tranquil lakeside lodge, which expertly blends sound and visualizations. The ambient sounds of the destination and the comforting voice of the narrator will put your worrying mind at ease in a heartbeat. 

2. "Nothing Much Happens"

"Nothing Much Happens" is a podcast with a pretty self-explanatory title. It is created and narrated by yoga and meditation teacher Kathryn Nicolai. In essence, each episode of the podcast is a half-hour story where nothing much really happens! You will hear inconsequential stories that are about being in relaxing places like laying in a small garden in the middle of Summer, or walking down to a creek on a Spring afternoon. If you’re into slow-paced bedside stories with dreamy visualizations, this podcast is for you. 

3. BBC "Slow Radio" 

BBC "Slow Radio" leans towards ASMR territory, for those who are into being transported to a dream land far far away. It is distinctive in its field recordings of sounds and people in different destinations. Here are some examples: “A Sunday walk through Harlem”, “Sounds of an ascent on foot to the summit of the imposing North Grigna mountain in Italy”, and “Inside the temple”. If you enjoy being immersed in a new environment with atmospheric sounds, then BBC "Slow Radio' will have an episode perfect for you. 

4. "Lore"

Calling all true crime heads out there! This podcast narrated by Aaron Mahnke gives you a taste of the tamer, more mystical stories that involve historical lores and legends. Paired with melodic classical music, the narrator takes the listener through fantastical stories about monsters in the woods or legends of pirates. Each episode is almost like a short bedtime story about mythical creatures, so the faint-hearted beware. 

5. "Sleepy" 

If you’re one of those tireless academics out there, "Sleepy" is the podcast for you. In this podcast, host Otis Gray’s deep baritone voice will put you to sleep as he reads classic literature. From The Swiss Family Robinson to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, each episode is a 40-minute reading of the greatest literary pieces out there. This podcast is perfect for those who enjoy a little reading before bed but can’t be bothered to turn on the lights and put on their reading glasses. 

Happy Sleeping!