Audiobooks.
Mostly the one I'm currently reading, but I have to listen to that part again the next day.
If that's too engaging I listen to Nothing much happens, Bedtime stories where as it says, not much is happening, read in a soothing voice.
I've been listening to Fall of Civilizations, with some Kosmo before that.
I used to try to put on ocean things, but the animals were all too pretty, so I'd end up watching it instead of sleeping.
Darkness and a home server fan
Classic movies, usually from TCM. I love classics but they’re often fantastic to fall asleep to with their slower stories and quieter dialog.
The I cant sleep podcast. Just a guy reading random wikipedia articles.
A book.
Over the last year or so I've conditioned myself to fall asleep to "Seasons" by Chris Cornell. It's the first song on my sleep playlist and I realized I was conditioned a few weeks ago when my wife was watching the movie Singles (which features the song repeatedly) and every time a bit of the song was played I would yawn.
More Kitboga for the last few months.
Extremely longform videos where an incredibly talented voice actor/software engineer/performance artist/ADHD dad calls scammers and wastes their time, collecting things like bank accounts to report as compromised, BTC wallet addresses to investigate, and the like. Streams all of his calls live, uses a physical voice transformer, and plays like 12 different characters on the fly. Sometimes plays four characters AT A TIME.
The relaxing sound of scammers just screaming obscenities in other languages.
A couple YouTube channels I regularly turn to:
The Exploring Series - He does read throughs of SCP files and Lovecraft stuff, as well as other things. His voice and inflection are excellent for being calming, but not hammy like a lot of sleep story channels.
Astrum - Astronomy and physics related material. Also an excellent voice for this purpose.
Otherwise I sometimes just pull up a dungeon synth album that has the right mood that I'm feeling for the night.
An irreverant/fantasy show with sypathetic well-intentioned protagonists, at minimum understandable volume, with characters and plotlines that invite analysis. Something about the pointlessness of studying a fantasy universe is a quite effective sleep aid. Various Star Trek series, Futurama, X-Files, Grimm, Family Guy...
For shows that are a great fit except for a few segments (boisterous theme songs, jarring fight scenes, etc) the PotPlayer Skip Playback function (hotkey ') is super useful. Also I have a basic script that gradually mutes the volume after 40 minutes.
Whatever book I'm currently reading.
D&D lore, or any other fictional lore is really good for this. It's not nearly interesting enough to really keep my attention, but just interesting enough that I kinda half listen.
Put this on, and just try to stay awake at night, I dare you.
For background listening while I'm winding down in the evening I like something a little more interesting, and my best for that is probably SEA. One of the best astronomy channels around.
Reading paper books.
Used to watch Forrest Gump and Harry Potter to fall asleep quite a few years ago.
Cosmos with Carl Sagan
Malcontent.
Anything I’m watching by the time it hits 11:30 at night. Unless it’s a really great movie/show, I’m falling asleep on the couch.
There's this Dutch fella who has a huge library of videos on YouTube where he plays these incredibly difficult custom levels for Doom. Despite the difficulty of playing them pistol start on the hardest difficulty, he's (almost) always very calm, narrating his experiences live with a low, calming voice. Game volume is also set low, so even with tons of explosions and screaming revenants his voice takes center stage.
While he isn't uploading gameplay videos anymore, save for user submitted levels, he was uploading daily videos for the better part of five years. There's plenty of material. I like to put a video or two on while unwinding for bed, and once I start feeling sleepy enough I just lock my phone screen, drop the volume til I can juuuust clearly hear his voice, and fall asleep.
The Office (US). I've seen them all a million times but there's still enough to distract my mind. It's using the ubiquity of all the one liners and memes to advantage.
I listen to a small fan generating white noise and sometimes my cat purring
Casefile. It's not that content is boring or uninteresting. It just knocks me out.
There's a few short fiction podcasts I like for bedtime stories:
- Myths & Legends
- Fictional
- LeVar Burton Reads
- The Magnus Archives
I have a playlist of meditation/yoga music I put on when I go to bed.
Feldup, the French version of scare theater or other channels like that.
If it is really noisy or I need to sleep during the day (working shifts), waves sound from my Ozlo sleepbuds.
"Words for granted" podcast
Law & Order, Forensic Files, Inside the Actor's Studio, OSW Review, but to be honest, I don't really need any of it because I tend to pass out entirely within about 30 seconds of my head hitting the pillow anyways.
Pink Floyd: Dark side of the moon
Luetin09 more Warhammer Lore then you can poke a stick at.
Usually a science video on yt
I like to listen to podcasts/youtube videos about religion. The two I use the most are Religion for Breakfast and Let's Talk Religion. I also sometimes listen to "Fall of Civilizations Podcast". I always get bored if I do nothing but listen to podcast, which helps me sleep.
I do wish I could listen to that last one though, since I like history and the production quality is good. A video can hold my attention for longer than a podcast for some reason.
Woodworking or restoring old appliances and tools.
Usually nothing but silence, but if I can not sleep or am thinking to loud I try to distract myself with some glitch in the matrix or anything by as the Raven dreams.
The non musical family guy episodes.
It's the only comedy show where there's no laugh track, loud noises, and they explain every scene as it's happening.
The crickets and frogs outside through an open window.
Cutting Edge Engineering. Aussie machinist who fixes large mining equipment parts
https://www.youtube.com/@JohnMichaelGodier
This guy's videos. He has the perfect cadence and voice for it, and the right video length too. To be perfectly honest I have no idea if the content of the videos is good, but they're very useful.
Dreamscape ASMR (YouTube channel)
Every vid is a thoroughly thought out and immersive artistic experience, unlike many ASMR channels with regular soft talking in the room.
Astrum and or SEA. calm space documentaries. interesting enough to hold my attention and keep my mind from racing, not critical enough that I'm afraid to miss it.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Seinfeld. I know they are always yelling but it soothes me. I think me visualizing the scenes as I listen helps.
Occasionally I fall asleep reading but I'm usually too interested in what I'm reading to sleep. Same with music it's either too interesting or too boring.
"Content"
Machining or lathe work videos. For some reason, it's very satisfying for some reason.
Silence. It's not uncommon for me to fall asleep watching a Jaws or Alien movie, either.
Dr Roy Casagranda lectures on YouTube lately.
Austin school channel: https://youtube.com/@theaustinschool?si=5_mJ-mcugKPS1GST
Any video on WWII
Oliech. Belgian streamer who plays the Battleground mode of Hearthstone. I don't play that game but I watch his videos on Youtube and whenever I do, I fell asleep and usually sleep well.
Otherwise, silence.
Horror movie soundtracks
Any sitcom made by Greg Daniels or Michael Schur.
I go to sleep listening to music. Some of my favorite sleep time artist:
Carbon based lifeform, Solar fields, Aes Dana, Emancipator, Album leaf, Random Rab, Sync 24, Ulrich Schnauss
The inside of my eyelids have this weird shapes and light show, work every time.
Adventure time
Spraycan artists videos on mute will put me to sleep. Could be someone on the street or at home.
Zelda OOT or Majora's Mask speed runs.
The hum of my oscilating tower fan.
Painting videos are the best.
PBS Spacetime or Space Matters at 0.75 speed.
Alan Watts, Eckart Tolle, Great Meditations (the sleep ones as there is no wakeup bit at the end)
KnowledgeFight, usually. Sometimes an audio book.
Lofi girl.
The box fan.
Audiobooks. With a good narrator, and a timer set to about 30 minutes, it can guide me into the dreamworld.
David Gilmour - Live in Pompeii
Omnibus.
A Playlist made up of a bunch of 90's primetime cartoons
Formula 1 and tennis matches. Not because they are boring but they are relaxing.
Listen to Fred again... - 10 April 2021 by Fred Again... on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/RJUDy
When not in the mood for talking, singing bowls for sure.
When my brain can't stop and I need a distraction, either the sleep with me podcast or welcome to nightvale. Sometimes Sleep Whispers but that one can be over stimulating for my lil ASMR brain.
Police interrogation videos
Porn, hentai or 90s - early 2000s resident evil OST
As I transition to being an old man I'm increasingly falling asleep on the couch while my wife and I watch through the Alone show again. It's quite relaxing.
Last night I fell asleep listening to PBS WashingtonWeek but that's the first time I've fallen asleep with an earbud in in a long time. Usually I just have a fan on.
