If you’re an adult who has trouble falling asleep, an array of bedtime story apps (free or by subscription) are available to help you nod off. These audio-guided bedtime stories for adults, also called sleep stories, are increasingly being included in wellness apps such as Calm, BetterSleep, Slumber, Sleepiest, and Headspace, along with guided meditations and an arsenal of other tools for better sleep and stress reduction. There are also bedtime story podcasts designed for adults such as Get Sleepy, Just Sleep, Sleep With Me, and Boring Books for Bedtime.
Listening to stories read in hushed tones as you relax in bed can help you turn off the racing or distracting thoughts that keep you awake, possibly more so than just listening to music or white noise. You may be transported to a vineyard, a desert, a castle, a cabin in a forest, an antique shop on a rainy day, a lighthouse, or even outer space. You can journey through the Amazon and Venetian lagoons or to Siberia, or take a hot air balloon or train ride. The stories may travel back in time or into the future. Soothing background sounds or music often accompany the narration, sometimes with options to customize them. Stories typically run 15 to 30 minutes.
The most effective bedtime stories are detailed and engaging enough to occupy your mind so you don’t ruminate on the day’s events, but also dull enough so that you fall asleep. They are free of conflict and have no climax or resolution but instead unfold nonlinearly with no real beginning, middle, and end. The words tend to be spoken in a lyrical way, without sharp consonants; words that could evoke anxiety, such as spiders, are intentionally avoided. As the stories progress, the speed of the narration may slow and become quieter.
Bedtime stories won’t help all sleepless adults, of course. But there’s enough variety to be able to try out different ones to see what might work best for you. You may, for instance, be able to drift off more easily to a deep-voiced narrator (such as Idris Elba) or one with a Southern drawl (such as Matthew McConaughey), or you may prefer specific genres of stories—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, sci-fi, travel, Greek mythology, or angst-free versions of classic fairy tales like “Sleeping Beauty.” There are also plenty of podcasts not designed as sleep aids that may be just boring enough to do the trick.
