{"id":25276,"date":"2019-04-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.saatva.com\/best-podcasts-for-sleep\/"},"modified":"2023-08-28T18:48:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T18:48:36","slug":"best-podcasts-for-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saatva.com\/blog\/best-podcasts-for-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcasts Guaranteed to Bore You to Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you think of popular podcasts<\/a>, you most likely think of true-crime thrillers and political deep dives. But, it turns out, while everyone was busy obsessing over Serial,<\/em> podcast producers were quietly targeting another audience: the legions of Americans who are wide awake at 2 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noting the millions of people who toss and turn when they should be deep in REM-land<\/a>, podcast producers\u2014best known for spinning eye-opening tales\u2014have begun using their magic perversely, coupling numbing content and a mumbling monotone to battle insomnia. Today, sleep-inducing podcasts are proliferating faster than you can count sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original: Sleep With Me<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The master of the genre is Drew Ackerman, who as an anxious child appreciated being read to at night. Five years ago he had the brainy idea of producing bedtime stories for adults<\/a>\u2014not X-rated, just less frightening than, say, Disney’s Cinderella<\/em>. Thanks perhaps to these anxious times, his suggestively titled podcast Sleep With Me<\/a> is going gangbusters, with zillions of listeners downloading hundreds of episodes with meandering narratives that never go anywhere (yawn).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the phone, Ackerman is fun and engaging, not to mention patient\u2014I am not, it seems, the first nitwit to ask how an inconclusive shaggy dog story with a name like \u201cGame of Drones,” told in a low, pebbly voice, manages to put people to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt needs to be just interesting enough to keep their minds off what is keeping them awake but not too<\/em> interesting,” he says of the winning formula that has attracted more than a million downloads a month and spawned its own Facebook community<\/a> of 6,000 plus sleep fans. Ackerman has learned to avoid certain topics\u2014snakes and clowns, for example, not to mention anything with too much emotional resonance. \u201cI recently did one on a relationship in a state of flux during the holidays,” he says, and the implied tension \u201cwas a little off-putting for those who could relate.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get in just the right head space, Ackerman records his podcasts in \u201ca small closet under the stairs,” using index cards to remind himself to slow down his delivery. The result is “like putting on a pair of worn gloves,” he says\u2014warm, comfy, and something that doesn’t require a lot of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For insomniacs who still can’t shut down their internal soundtracks, Ackerman recommends the ultimate buzz kill: the BBC’s shipping forecast<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to the “Game of Drones” episode of Sleep With Me:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n