Sometimes no matter how exhausted you are, slowing your mind down to fall asleep can be an intense challenge. I often get caught in an anxious cycle of stressing because I want to fall asleep ASAP so I can get as full of a night’s sleep as possible, but then I’m so busy thinking about how much I need to sleep that I can’t actually fall asleep and then I get more stressed out and AHH. It’s rough, but I’ve found someone who understands and who has come up with a solution!
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon the podcast Sleep With Me and have been listening to it to help me fall asleep every single night. The description on Sleep With Me’s website reads: “the podcast that puts you to sleep, a lulling, droning, boring bedtime story to distract your racing mind.” The narrator, Scooter, uses a fairly monotone voice to think aloud in rambling tangents that interrupt the stories he tells in each episode. This “pointless meandering” makes it almost impossible to follow what he is saying, so you don’t have to worry about getting so invested in listening that you won’t be able to fall asleep.
Scooter’s voice seemed a little creepy to me at first, but I got used to it after the first few nights and I usually fall asleep before he finishes the introductions. I like to add episodes to a playlist so that if I wake up in the middle of the night, an episode is always playing to lull me quickly back to sleep. If you have a hard time falling asleep, or tend to wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to go back to sleep, I highly recommend giving this podcast a try! I subscribe to the podcast through the Apple Podcast app on my iPhone, but the podcast is also available on its website.
I’ve tried using apps like Calm to help me fall asleep, but I refuse to pay for full versions so I love that Sleep With Me is free. There are over 600 episodes available and Scooter adds 3 new episodes a week. Scooter does accept donations to support the podcast through Patreon, but also says that spreading the word about Sleep With Me is just as helpful, which is exactly why I’m writing this article! There are 3,900 patrons who have decided to pay for an optional subscription. I think it says a lot that so many people appreciate Scooter’s podcast that they are willingly contributing money to support its continuation. Sleep With Me has become such an important part of my routine and I don’t think I’ll ever want to go back.