Valerian for the ears: These podcasts help you fall asleep-You just can’t calm down? Podcasts can help: from gently presented Wikipedia articles to eight hours of listening to the sound of the Baltic Sea, everything is available. We present you ten podcasts for restless nights.
Bedroom. What a day! The boss has put pressure on her again because the numbers aren’t right, the son was injured during training and then the Kritharaki feta casserole is heavy in the stomach. On the couch, listening to the television, your eyes had gradually closed. But now you’re lying in bed and can’t sleep?
You are not alone , after all, around half of all Germans suffer from sleep problems. Sleep doctors recommend an organized daily routine, good nutrition and not using your cell phone late in the day . If you still can’t calm down, there are numerous podcasts that can help you drift off into the realm of dreams.
Ten podcasts for restless nights
- “Fall asleep with Wikipedia”
- BBC Radio 3: „Slow Radio“
- “fall asleep podcast”
- Peter and the forest
- “Fall asleep in Tolkien’s world”
- „Meandering Piano“
- „Enter Sandman“
- “Falling asleep with noises”
- „Get sleepy“ der Slumber Studios
- “Sleeping pill“
“Fall asleep with Wikipedia”
An absolute classic of the sleep podcast genre in Germany is “Falling asleep with Wikipedia”. The concept is easily explained: Twice a week, Josefine “Fine” Wozniak and Tilman Böhnke read out abridged entries from the most famous online encyclopedia in a pleasantly warm tone of voice. In an interview with “podstars.de”, producer Florian Kasten explained the secret of success: “A sleep podcast has to be a bit like the boring physics teacher from the fourth grade. It can’t get too emotional.”
A nice example is the episode “The Tropical Rainforest”. First, you learn that these forests are known for their “evergreen, biomass-rich deciduous forest areas,” with a “story structure” that extends from ground to treetop. And thus significantly further than the listener’s gradually dwindling attention.
BBC Radio 3: „Slow Radio“
The BBC has always made history: from 1940 it broadcast Thomas Mann’s speeches to the “German listeners!” , and later gave the world treasures of series such as “Sherlock” and “Doctor Who”. In 2017 – shortly after the Brexit referendum – a new coup was added: “Slow Radio”, an auditory counterweight to the hectic pace of the world. “Take a step back, let go, dive deep: it’s time to slow down,” is the show’s slogan with a snail in its logo.
The show – which is primarily heard as a podcast – is produced by BBC Radio 3, the station that otherwise focuses primarily on classical music. The focus here is on noises, or rather: soundscapes, which are only garnished here and there with quietly spoken, literal descriptions. There is something for every taste: you can hike alongside Johann Sebastian Bach to Lübeck in 1704 for five episodes ( “Bach Walks” ) or climb the Grigna mountain range in northern Italy. Or you can listen to the night winds and animal visitors on the banks of an oasis in the Kalahari (“Midnight at the Oasis”).
“fall asleep podcast”
Tobias Baier takes a more personal approach with his “fall asleep podcast”. Once a week he sits down at the microphone and talks about his life and what’s currently on his mind. For example, about his musical instruments or about how generative AI works. He administers the real sleeping pill in the last minutes of each episode, usually by reading from Immanuel Kant’s revolutionary and difficult to understand major work “Critique of Pure Reason” (1781).
A sample: “The first rule is therefore this: not to attempt transcendental proofs without first having considered and justified the case, where one wants to get the principles on which one intends to build them, and with what right one can use them expect the good success of the conclusions…” Zzzzzz.
Peter and the forest
Not every podcast that is suitable for falling asleep is also intended for falling asleep. The “Geo” podcast by the forester and nature explainer Peter Wohlleben belongs in this category, at least the episodes in which he invites you to take a “walk in the forest”. At the side of the humorous giant (shoe size 48) you walk through his forest area in the Eifel, in any weather, in any season.
Be it the rustling of autumn leaves, the smacking of boots in the snow or the songs of the first birds of spring: there is hardly a more pleasant soundscape to relax in, especially when the forester, in his cheerful narrative bear voice, also dispels troubling myths – for example the belief that Wild boars are aggressive. Or did you already know that a wild sow won’t attack even if you accidentally find yourself among her offspring? Each episode begins with a gentle synthesizer intro reminiscent of the theme song from the series “Twin Peaks”. And at the very end there are a few minutes of pure forest noise.
“Fall asleep in Tolkien’s world”
“Elen síla lumenn’ omentielvo!” Fans of “The Lord of the Rings” immediately know: This is how the elves, or more precisely the high elves, greet each other in their language “Quenya”. Actually, this language, in its hypnotic beauty, is already soothing enough to calmly close your eyes. But if you want to learn something at the same time, “Falling asleep in Tolkien’s world” is recommended. sleep podcast This is the German Tolkien Society’s .
For more than 100 episodes, changing speakers have been reading from Ardapedia , essentially the Wikipedia for the world that JRR Tolkien created. It’s called Arda, of which Middle-earth is only a part. As a small sample of the sense of well-being evoked by sound, here is the beginning of the episode “Lakes in Tolkien’s Legendarium”.
“The Aelin-uial (Sindarin for ‘Lakes of Twilight’) were located on the western border of Doriath, where the Aros, Doriath’s southern border river, flowed into the Sirion. In about the year 50 EZ (JS), at the Twilight Lakes of Ulmo, Turgon and Finrod received those prophetic dreams that led them to build the secret cities of Gondolin and Nargothrond…”
Very gradually you feel yourself beginning to dawn. Galadriel’s farewell songs in the land of Lórien still sound softly from a distance: “Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar. Nai elyë hiruva. Namárië!” And you want to dream forever.
“Meandering Piano“
Do you hear too much talking on podcasts and even the most beautiful voice can’t put you to sleep? In this case, the podcast platforms also offer musical relaxation. “Meandering Piano” is one such case. A pianist plays a quiet, minimalist piece for an hour. And if you believe the comments section, even babies sleep through the night with this sound system.
“Enter Sandman“
The podcast “Enter Sandman” by comedian and author Oliver Polak is also musical. The intro “You’re tired, you can’t sleep” begins and already sounds like a cozy hug, accompanied by Polak’s deep humming greeting. Then there is a relaxed conversation with a guest and at the end there is counting – only not sheep, but for example “turtles in the vegetable compartment” or “blue iconic Ikea bags”. A piano gently banters along. Until it says: “Good night” – and you fall asleep with a smile on your lips.
“Falling asleep with noises”
Other podcasts focus neither on music nor voices, but on sounds. One such thing is called “falling asleep with noises”. No matter whether you want to dream yourself into the forest to the sound of a night owl, or whether you want to mentally anticipate your next vacation on the Baltic Sea beach – there is even the right sound world for very special tastes here: the episode “Schatzi snores,” for example. For eight hours – you feel like it – someone next to you is constantly sawing boards.
This is a reality in some bedrooms anyway and maybe even the reason why some people picked up headphones in the first place. But if there’s actually no one lying there: can there be a more authentic sound that makes you feel like you’re not alone?
“Get sleepy“ der Slumber Studios
The good old bedtime story can also be found in the podcast universe. “Get Sleepy” is a format that takes you to the beach in Costa Rica or on a train ride through the French Alps in short stories. Accompanied by scenically appropriate sounds, someone calmly reads what is sensually opening up before our inner eyes.
Whereby “at peace” is to be taken literally: some sentences – or so it feels – are completed at the speed of growing grass. From the episode “A Sleepy Journey to the World Above”: “The ground was covered with leaves… many of them brown… some green… and a large portion… butter colored.”