Trouble sleeping? 10 podcasts to lead you to the land of nodzzzz on this World Sleep Day

If you find it challenging to unwind at the end of the day, podcasts can help you get comfy, cozy, and clear your mind. We’ve found a variety of podcasts for you to get to cloud nine in no time.

During the coronavirus pandemic, people reported on disrupted sleep patterns. Whether you have Coronasomnia, trouble relaxing, getting sleepy, or just want to listen to a soothing audio before bedtime, the podcasts on our list include snooze-worthy stories, dreamy soundscapes, and chill meditations to lead you to the land of nod in no time. Let these selections fulfill your dreams of sleep, and hopefully you’ll wake up feeling refreshed in the morning.

The Sleepy Bookshelf

Since July 2021, Elizabeth Grace has hosted “The Sleepy Bookshelf.” This Slumber Studios production reads classic novels to you to fall asleep. The stories are read in a soothing manner and edited accordingly to increase the odds of you sleeping soundly. Elizabeth begins each episode with a moment of silent meditation. Books are then read and broken into several parts. Featured classics have so far included Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Pride and Prejudice. Were you too busy sleeping to make it to the end of the last episode you heard? Not to worry! Elizabeth always recaps any plot you might have missed out on.

Snoozecast

“Snoozecast” is designed to help you fall and stay asleep. The relaxing musical intros set the tone for each episode. There’s comfort in a familiar story being read aloud to you. Episodes feature favorites like Sherlock Holmes, Peter Pan, Rapunzel, and Emily Dickinson’s nature poetry. A zen voice narrates. New episodes are released on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The show has buckets of rave reviews from people saying it’s their go-to bedtime soundtrack.

Planet Sleep

“Planet Sleep” features music, nature sounds, and stories. Our host Josh Thomas’s voice guides through peaceful audio scapes and narrations. Since Josh was little, he has always been fascinated by the natural world and embraces peace and quiet. He loves the sounds of birds chirping, water lapping on the ocean shore, and rain falling on the roof. Josh loves reading about nature and always fell asleep reading or listening to nature sound CDs. This show is inspired by the Planet Earth and Cosmos television series. This Mile Higher Production releases new episodes on Mondays.

Sleep with Me

Raise your hand if you’ve been so bored you couldn’t help but pass out. Dearest Scooter’s “Sleep with Me” plays on how your mind interfaces with the mundane to bore you to sleep. The stories make no sense whatsoever. They’re all over the place! You can get the idea of the level of kookiness the topics span with title examples like, “Blankets, Cloaks and Sloaks,” “Sticky Map Making,” and “Great Loofah Games.” “Sleep with Me” was an ‘Odd Pod of the Week’ pick in Podsauce’s Episode 3.

Sleep to Strange

From Dearest Scooter comes, “Sleep to Strange” the same people behind the “Sleep with Me” podcast. From “pointless meanders” to random stories, this show overlapped with older “Sleep with Me” stories, but cuts out the introductions. Bizarre titles include “Nuns in Space,” “Tesla Haircut,” and “Speckled Eggs and Parenthood.”

Sleep and Relax ASMR

If you dig autonomous sensory meridian response-triggering sounds, “Sleep and Relax ASMR” is for you! Audio episodes include lengthy repetitive sounds that can induce the tingly brain/scalp relaxation feeling that moves to a whole-body experience. Episodes feature sounds like 30 minutes of turning pages in a book, mumbling, whispering, ambient noise of a winter village in Europe, and aquatic bubbling. This series also releases speaking episodes including random facts, topic sequences, proverbs, and ramblings from an ASMR Mechanic. Episodes in Spanish are also available. In its list of over 500 episodes, you might find one with your favorite ASMR sounds.

Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove

Sleep Stories – Christopher Fitton presents “Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove,” a podcast filled with hypnotically calming sleep stories and meditations to help you snooze. It’s nice how a few minutes into each episode, soft music underlays host Chris’ voice. The ocean sound-backed music tracks are lovely. Chris also shares daytime meditation episodes in case you’re in need of a break during the day. You might recognize stories he reads, counting versions of Poe’s A Descent into the Maelstrom, selections from Greek mythology, and The Tale of Peter Rabbit. New episodes are available weekly.

Nothing Much Happens

In Curiouscast’s “Nothing Much Happens,” yoga and meditation teacher Kathryn Nicolai reads bedtime stories. The stories are told twice and the pace is slower the second time around. The double-telling technique enables your mind to focus on the story while relaxing, instead of dwelling on thoughts from the day. All episodes are written by Kathryn. New episodes are posted semimonthly.

Deep Sleep Sounds

“Deep Sleep Sounds” is by Slumber Studios. You’ll hear sounds of a crackling firepit, rain in the jungle, wind in the summer, thunderstorms, and white noise. The “Pink Noise Sleep Drone” episode is exceptionally dreamy. All episodes range from an hour to over two hours in length. Listeners can also subscribe to continuous 8-hours of sound episodes on the show’s website.

Get Sleepy

“Get Sleepy” is by Slumber Studios. Each episode starts with a meditation and then gets into a story. The show is mainly hosted by Thomas Jones, but voices from his friends Arif Hodzic and TK Kellman often read as well. Whether the stories are bringing you through the Swiss Alps to a trip to the bakery, all destinations of these stories are the same — a quality night’s sleep.