this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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I have had insomnia most of my life and found out that falling asleep listening to something as opposed to white noise really helps the anxiety I feel leading up to and falling asleep. I ended up buying a sleep mask with headphones after my wife was being woken up/kept awake by my phone on my nightstand. I can no longer sleep without this thing, kinda like a kid with their stuffed animal lol.

I am slowly running out of my normal stuff after repeated listening over the last 3 years. Just looking for some suggestions of stuff to fall asleep too.

Normally, I am listening to some competitive PokΓ©mon analyses/videos (JimothyCool, FSG, BKC, anything covering Smogon metas), lore videos covering long running game series (mainly just WoW), comic book analysis (ComicTropes, Owen likes comics, strange brain parts, merry marvelite) and now some "sleep story" based channels (harder to find non-ai junk, but ive been enjoying Good Knight Sleep for their batman stories/call in radio and some mystery stories).

Sorry if that was too much for an example of what ive been listening to, but I would love to find some new things to throw into the rotation.

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[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 11 points 2 months ago

I love listening to college lectures for topics I'm interested in but don't fully grok. I fell asleep in them back when I was paying for it and getting tested on the material. Now I can listen to the same lecture 50 times if I want. And no test.

An all time favorite: Lenny Susskind's Stanford open lecture series on Quantum Mechanics

Down side: sometimes I dream that I am trying to ask a question and the lecturer never notices. I have literally in the dream started running around terrorizing the room going insane screaming why does this professor not acknowledge my existence?!

Doubly hurtful when it's Lenny; he's such a comforting father-figure

[–] Tempus_Fugit@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

I've been rewatching DS9 at night and falling asleep to that.

[–] Talos@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 months ago

Sleep With Me and Sleep Magic podcasts are great. Both have interesting enough content to listen to, but designed to make you sleepy. Also they talk like normal people. I can’t stand the ones where people are using their β€œsleepy ASMR voice.”

All the This Week in Tech (TWIT) podcasts are also really good, and long so good to fall asleep to. Also good if you can’t fall asleep since they’re pretty interesting.

Darknet Diaries is a good one - great stories.

[–] Vince@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's a dude on YouTube that repairs old cameras, hour long videos that I try to pay attention to but always puts me in that state where I can feel myself falling asleep, and my eyes won't stay open.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

"thank you?"

-that guy, probably

[–] Sherad@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If you don't mind unsettling/horror/sci fi stuff, I recommend Exploring Series on YouTube. I find their voice just that right level of interesting enough to listen to the actual info if I want to, but calm enough to fall asleep to as well.

They have a few Lovecraft book readings as well, but I usually just binge the SCP Foundation recordings, haha.

[–] Lena@piefed.zip 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

His scp stuff is great, as he isn't just another wiki reader like most, but instead commenting and explaining it.

[–] Sherad@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 month ago

I have always appreciated their personal analysis as opposed to the rote application of other youtube scp channels. The difference between ideas and "ideas".

[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Paper books with nightlights, or ebooks on low light level.

Reduced sensory input works like a charm.

[–] DiagonalHorse@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 months ago

Casefile. Would recommend an earphone if you have a partner hahaha

[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yep, lately it's been Max Richter 's album Sleep.

Supplemented with eye mask, melatonin, and an attempt to keep bedtime and wake up hours very consistent. When I can't sleep, sometimes the last resort is to go sleep somewhere else, like the living room couch or the guest bedroom. For some reason, that can break me out of the rut and fall asleep.

[–] tomenzgg@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for this; I can't say that I wasn't just particularly exhausted last night but I put this on and conked out pretty quickly.

I used to be able to listen to just about any music, when falling asleep, but my anxiety's reached a point that even playing the sound of waves is too much commotion and ramps up my adrenaline.

This was calm and unobtrusive enough that it really was just background noise and my brain didn't keep getting its attention yanked away from drifting off.

[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 2 points 2 months ago

Awesome. I'm glad it was a fit for you and best wishes on more improvements to your sleep.

Apparently, Richter consulted with a neuroscientist specializing in sleep on it. And Richter has a sequel, Sleep Circle, which I haven't checked out yet but have seen positive recommendations a few times online.

[–] GammaGames@beehaw.org 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I don’t, but I do have a mask and that helps a lot!

I know some people use gameplay videos as background noise to fall asleep, someone I follow made a Sniper Elite video where he quietly narrates invasion mode for an hour and a half

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I typically need something familiar to listen to in order to fall asleep. I doubt it would work for you, but for me personally, Alpharad among us vods work great. I envy you, as a single person it's very difficult early in a relationship to navigate these things

[–] Edgarallenpwn@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago

I have been catching up on some Nothernlion bits and banter videos, those could probably work

[–] CorpoCorpse@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I do, it also greatly helps with my work based anxieties related to next day woes. I find it also helps me relax and sleep when dealing with my chronic migraines to be able to listen, and in a way see, with my ears only since I get severe occular issues with them.

I pretty exclusively listen to video game lps, especially on migraine days, as I find comfort in knowing the game that is being played so well I dont feel the urge to look.

If that sounds up your alley there are a few creators I can recommend, all of which do not raise their voices, shout in surprise, or have sharp jumps in audio levels. They all balance their audio very very well.

Rhadamant: Narrative driven stories in a variety of games with a large focus on Rimworld. He does a very good job of explaining everything so you really can "watch" without seeing and fall asleep comfortably listening to a story. My favorite was the OG wendigo series personally but if you don't know Rimworld that may be heavy. Life on the Rim is tough.

Halfman: Very different here but his rags to riches series on Tarkov feels like listening to a survival novel set in a warzone.

Aavak: Calm and collected every time with a very soothing tone. Unlike the others has a wider back catalogue of games so may be more options to grab your interest.

The Black Pants Legion - TexTalksBattletech: Lore videos on Battletech (big tabletop mech war set in an alternate timeline) super cool stuff. Lots to dig into.

TheAshHeritor: I started with the narrative lets plays of Age of Wonders because I was playing it in a similar way. The creator is an author for Warhammer and it really shows in the way they commentate. There is a current series running on Rogue Trader as well that is quite good.

Here's hoping you find some joy and, most importantly, some sleep.

[–] Edgarallenpwn@midwest.social 1 points 2 months ago

Black Pants Legion sounds interesting. I have never played TT games but mechs and lore is always cool.

Halfman sounds interesting, I played Tarkov for a month or two in 2022. It was a lot of fun but I didnt have the time to play a lot, and felt like I was so under geared two months into a reset. If the single player mod still is being developed, I was thinking of giving that another shot.

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Regrettably my tinnitus requires me to have some kind of sound going. I also like having flickering light, so I tend to just put on TV shows I have seen many times. Like Supernatural or Star Trek.

[–] Edgarallenpwn@midwest.social 1 points 2 months ago

I just started watching TNG for the first time. Maybe once I'm done I'll throw that in rotation!

[–] pcn@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Sleeping with celebrities is celebs trying to calmly talk you to sleep. Empire and Revolutions are great podcasts. You can learn and then re-listen the next day if you want to learn more.

Would I lie to you is amazing, and the stories start to become a safety blanket. The unbelievable truth is great too.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Lately I've been watching Noel Phillips videos on YouTube. He's an airline geek (as am I) and has been to some really unique places - some are interesting places on different continent, some just random remote airports in the middle of American nowhere.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Either 40K lore or Pokemon challenge runs, usually https://www.youtube.com/@ScottsThoughtsPokemon

[–] nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Listening to podcasts also helps me immensely to fall asleep. But it's difficult to find content that is not too boring and not too interesting.

My favorites are (and I doubt it would work for you looking at your preferred content)

  • behind the bastard
  • imaginary worlds
  • darknet diaries
  • build for tomorrow

Can only judge for the first 10 minutes of each episode because success.

I'm more low-tech, i set my mobile to minimum volume and use some equalizer app to reduce volume even more. Then i put the speaker right next to my ear.... need to upgrade on this :-)

[–] Edgarallenpwn@midwest.social 1 points 2 months ago

I have a huge backlog of BTB to catch up on. Might be good at night, but I usually like to listen to them in one go.

[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I tend to go for story-telling podcasts, and within those I gravitate towards Twilight Zone/Outer Limits/Black Mirror style weird anthologies.

Right now I’m finding a lot of great stuff in:

  • The Other Stories (all kinds of stuff, they have a different theme every month or so)
  • The Wrong Station (similar, but less likely to stick to a theme for a while)
  • Gray Matter (lots of modern adaptations of older horror/sci-fi, like Lovecraft)
  • The Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings (higher ratio of dumb stuff, but still some gems)
  • The Program (Black Mirror-esque)
  • The Truth (various radio plays. Many aren’t sci-fi, but still weird in some way. Kind of reminds me of the bits of Inside No. 9 I’ve seen.)
[–] Edgarallenpwn@midwest.social 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'll take a look at all of these! I started get into old SciFi radio dramas and never knew where to start with modern ones. Thanks!

[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

You might also like Auditory Anthology then. Their original stories are sometimes a little hit or miss for me, but one neat thing they do is they rebroadcast old episodes of a 50s radio show called X Minus One between their own stories. Often ones that they used as inspiration for a modern rewrite in an earlier episode.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I used to fall asleep a couple of audio books. The Winds of War, The Stand or The Wheel of time. I found the narrators of those books voices very soothing.

I made my self stop though, I wanted to reduce the amount of stuff I needed to fall asleep.

[–] Edgarallenpwn@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A cousin of mine is a huge Wheel of Time fan was trying to convince me to give them a go. I'll check them out

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

I really enjoyed the first three books.

[–] Cattail@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I took a nap while falling asleep to a short video and in my dream I kept trying to turn off the video wondering why I the audio kept looping. Took me a while to realize I'm in dream land

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

If you want completely different genre, these I find helpful if I can't sleep.

Darknet Diaries - stories of ex hackers and penetration testers telling their experiences on a job. Sneaking into various facilities etc.

Stuff You Should Know - two hosts laying out various topics with a bit of silliness and banter mixed in.

Lost SciFi Podcast -dude reads various short stories from ages ago. He's a good reader but just enough monotony to fall asleep to if you aren't into the story

[–] Edgarallenpwn@midwest.social 2 points 2 months ago

Lost SciFi sounds awesome. I was listening to a few sci fi radio dramas and some short story audio books a little bit ago at work. I'll check it out!

[–] hateisreality@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I've started listening to SecretBase from pateron

[–] EarWorm@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I use Joov VODs. Just some random Skyrim sounds, the Fallout ones don't work as well, what with the gunshots and all.

[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I started doing this when I went away to college. I think it was some mix of not having parents to tell me to go to sleep, feeling like I needed to reclaim some time for myself when the rest of my day was so busy, and maybe being a bit lonely far away from home.

I almost exclusively watch HS BG. It’s the right level of enough stuff happening that it occupies my mind while I’m conscious but it’s not something I care about missing any of it and they’re generally chill enough to not overexcite me or shock me awake. Plus they usually have on some generic chill music in the background.

I set a timer to shut off my tablet after an hour and with only a few exceptions I don’t ever stay awake long enough to see it shut off.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 1 month ago

Antennapod and newpipe/pipepipe have sleep timers!

Audiobooks from Pratchett, Niven, Adams are my favorite

Hardcore history

Well there's your problem

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Really just about anything. I can fall asleep to movies, videos, music, audiobooks, whatever. I just keep it at a low volume

[–] Ryanmiller70@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

I've always needed some sort of noise to help sleep. I can do it in complete silence, but it takes a lot longer and I can never get comfortable so if I have to be up early the next day, silence is a recipe for disaster.

I tend to sleep to one of Vinny Vinesauce's vods he uploads to the Fullsauce channel. Dude has just a nice relaxing voice and personality so I can kind of half pay attention and imagine what's going on as I lie down with my eyes closed.

I recommend Paul Fellows, who has a large catalog of brief astronomy lectures under his "Once Around" series.

I'm just gonna put a happy little Bob Ross ... right here.

[–] GingerGoodness@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

The French Whisperer. "Whisperer" is a bit of a misnomer since he speaks softly instead of actually whispering but he is very French. He covers a pretty wide range of history, mythology, science, and literature/arts. There's a YouTube channel for videos but he uploads audio-only versions on podcast platforms.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 months ago

No, I prefer to read to sleep. But I also just... go to sleep, sometimes.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 points 2 months ago

I listen to short science videos. I usually put them into a playlist of about five videos and fall asleep by the second. New videos or topics I know less about go first.

My favourites are Dr Becky, PBS Space Time, PBS Eons, Omega Centauri and Urknall, Weltall & das Leben. Angela Collier would be up there as well, but her videos are too interesting to fall asleep to. And I also like Looking Glass Universe, but she tends to show too much stuff you have to see.

[–] fizzle@quokk.au 1 points 2 months ago

Ancient Civilisations or a short history of ... from the noiser network.

Some of the episodes are narrated by Paul McGann (?) who's a british actor, other episodes are from another guy with a very similar voice. Both are great voices for falling asleep to.

[–] FritzApollo@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago

Mostly I fall asleep to Alan Watts, Charles Bukowski (read by someone with a better voice haha), sometimes a reading of Khalil Gibran's The Prophet. When I get bored with those, I try radio stations, just whatever one interests me at the moment. Sometimes I'll listen to the "learn [language] while you sleep" videos, just as a goof.