The problem with that podcast is that most of their selections are genuinely interesting - I even listened to them on long drives (e.g. "Origin of Species"). Even something I thought would boring like or "Farm Engines and how to Run" them turned out to be fascinating.
This one, on the other hand, seems to be genuinely boring. I couldn't get past the intro.
ycombinete 3 hours ago [-]
The Sleep With Me Podcast is very good. It helped my wife when she had a period of insomnia.
He has a number of tricks he uses from a monoto delivery, to meandering stories where the narrative constantly interrupts itself with. So you can’t really “follow along”.
I don’t need it now but this was a godsend a few years ago.
nikhilgk 2 hours ago [-]
A similar one I recently discovered is https://www.youtube.com/@SleepOnPhysics. I think it was meant to put you to sleep with the detailed narrative, but I found it to be very interesting and captivating, especially for long drives.
The content quality is pretty good, I am almost certain the audio is AI generated, but wonder how the content itself was authored.
kuboble 1 hours ago [-]
I don't believe it to be ai generated voice. It's too good.
Or if it is - why e.g. automated voices reading nyt articles are so bad?
nmridul 1 hours ago [-]
In the middle the YouTube Advertisements starts playing at a louder volume and you wake up :)
superasn 25 minutes ago [-]
One trick that makes me sleepy really fast: After I close my eyes, I imagine someone throwing black paint on them. The first coat is kinda gray and has lots of blob and not fully black. Then another coat. And another. Each one gets darker until it's just pure black and I'm usually asleep by then.
For some reason, my brain follows it, and I fall asleep much faster. It works way better for me than box breathing or most other sleep tricks I've seen. Sharing in case someone else finds this useful.
PaulRobinson 34 minutes ago [-]
Not sure how accessible all this is outside of the UK (you'd need to check the BBC Sounds website & app), but the BBC has perfected a couple of great "gets you to sleep" radio outlets.
The oldest is Radio 4, the BBC's national spoken word radio station (there's also Radio 5 which focuses on sport and news, Radio 4 is more a mixture of comedy, arts, culture and news).
Late at night (UK time), there are programmes that were for many years my soundtrack to getting to sleep - news, a short programme (on Sunday it's a recording of some church bells from some church somewhere in the UK countryside - it changes each week), followed by the shipping forecast. The service "signs off" with the national anthem before switching over to the BBC World Service at around 1am through until 6am when it switches back to the iconic Today programme.
The shipping forecast though - that's the gold. If you've never listened to it before, try and find a recording. As an island nation with a decimated but still strong fishing trawler fleet, it's framed as essential safety information, but in truth its just an iconic, beautiful, ever-changing structured poem, read on national radio several times a day. It is perfect for helping calm the mind, it's a weighted blanket for the brain.
Somebody, somewhere realised that a continuity announcer slowly rattling through the shipping forecast was so good at putting over-active minds to sleep that they created a podcast - "The Sleeping Forecast" - which is a mix of slow/ambient music with old shipping forecasts read over them. I love it, but my partner finds it "weird" so I can't listen to it without wearing headphones late at night.
This, somehow, then led to the realisation that Radio 3 (the national classical music station in the UK), could provide more of the same. Cue other programs - Sleep Tracks, Night Tracks - where there is a composition of calming, quieting music, mostly rooted in classical tradition but overall just very ambient and calm.
And then the final inevitable chapter: in the world of DAB radio and digital platforms (including the BBC Sounds app that seemed absurd at its inception but now slowly becoming loved), the BBC realised they could cheaply put together a whole new station: BBC Radio 3 Unwind (or "3U" for short).
All of this being the BBC, there are no ads. No pledge drives. 3 Unwind has no news programming. It's my new go to when anxiety hits.
The BBC isn't perfect, the funding model needs to evolve, but while we have this - just in case one day we don't - do try and enjoy this stuff if you can.
Marfa is an amazing little town. I was there 3 months ago; while it is out of the way, even as a visitor, everyone is nice and genuinely there to provide an amazing artistic experience. If you ever want to experience the actual weird, southwestern, cowboy country, go to Marfa. And have a drink outside this public radio station. It's quite a nice getaway.
wxw 6 hours ago [-]
> It's a sleep podcast wherein we read you the boring documents essential to our jobs, in the hopes we might lull you into slumber.
What a great idea, I feel li... zzz
tzury 2 hours ago [-]
For me, Edward Witten (1), Sheldon Axler (2), Patrick Winston (3) and many others do a far better job.
Though sometimes it is very interesting and might delay sleep a bit
jpmontez 5 hours ago [-]
One of my greatest memories is performing at the Chinati Foundation. Marfa is such a gem with tons of cool people just being creative out in the desert.
dfee 5 hours ago [-]
agreed, it's a gem. wasn't familiar with Chianti, though!
joebig 19 minutes ago [-]
Wdym... this is riveting stuff!
bad_username 2 hours ago [-]
> Ever wondered what NPR's code of journalistic ethics involves for the newsroom?
I have been thinking a lot through the years about the choice between joirnalistic ethics and journalistic activism in the ranks of organizations like NPR. This is an extremely important topic because today's media are as impactful politically as the "regular" political process.
My point is, such discussion would not make me sleepy, the opposite would happen.
toxik 1 hours ago [-]
I suppose it depends on how it is presented. You can definitely present boring things interestingly, and interesting things boringly.
jkwang 58 minutes ago [-]
I used to fall asleep to NPR as a kid, so this resonates. Curious if anyone else has a go-to station or podcast they use as a sleep aid?
mvdwoord 57 minutes ago [-]
No Agenda is a regular of mine... the sound levels on it are incredibly well done, also for all clips they play.
They've seemed to configure Cloudfront to block access from Singapore.
lxgr 1 hours ago [-]
Too many American websites these days put random geoblocking in place.
What’s even more frustrating is when it happens without any explanation in mobile apps via breaking a few specific APIs.
Just yesterday I was struggling with a bank/fintech that would send me through KYC every time I’d open the app from abroad as an existing user, which would then hang forever. Using a US VPN, everything would work normally. Good thing fraudsters don’t have access to US VPNs…
hirako2000 29 minutes ago [-]
At least one can see the html there.
adi_kurian 5 hours ago [-]
Just thinking about that little big neck of the world puts me to sleep. In the best of ways. I love West Texas.
oniony 4 hours ago [-]
I wonder why the telephone number read aloud, and that on the web page, are different.
greybox555 5 hours ago [-]
fastsleep.app does kinda similar thing...
but instead of long podcasts, you are given something to imagine at a time interval.
Like if you hear "calm river", imagine that. If you hear "heavy rain over a tree", imagine that.
It's a progressive web app (you may install and use it both on android and ios)
Simply visit the page and click Install.
This may even be used without installation though...
Even no sign-up is required to try this.
Too bad they missed the opportunity to read it, very, slowly.
zippyman55 6 hours ago [-]
I’d like to filter the offerings to get the most monotonic voice
initramfs 6 hours ago [-]
clicks fingers instead of clapping.
roguequery-dev 6 hours ago [-]
What a brilliant idea. I’m here fo…zzz.
zx8080 1 hours ago [-]
> The Amazon CloudFront distribution is configured to block access from your country.
Thank you very much.
So tired of the cloudflare shit.
lxgr 1 hours ago [-]
I think you’re mixing up clouds here…
It’s really annoying, but even if Cloudflare/AWS etc. offer a big “block all access from abroad/evil GDPR abroad/…”, I feel like the site owner is still the one to blame for pressing it.
Listening now, after a day long coding binge, and I need to wind down.
It has a decent sleepy background vibe to it too. Reminds me of Joe Perra Talks You To Sleep (Adult Swim). I dig it!
fsckboy 5 hours ago [-]
i want a sleep app that reads me things that will put me to sleep, but i need it to track when i may have gone to sleep, or more importantly when I have not, so i can restart the next night past the point i've listened to. but it needs to be some crazy simple UI, i don't want the light on my phone to turn on, i don't want to fiddle, just skip forward, skip back, that's about it
there's all sorts of stuff that is dry but interesting that I'd like to plow through over time, a few paragraphs a day would suit me fine
scrapcode 5 hours ago [-]
I think it'd be an outstanding feature on the iPhone to turn off audiobooks/podcasts at ~5 min into sleep or whatever. Seems like they already have the data via the Watch...
iamflimflam1 5 hours ago [-]
If you have AirPods there’s a “Pause media when falling asleep” switch.
iaaan 2 hours ago [-]
Any idea how that works? Something with the microphone maybe?
cauefcr 5 hours ago [-]
audiobook software is almost there, I've used cozy like that myself
a34729t 5 hours ago [-]
Meh, not math finance. Thats literally lorezapam.
khimaros 5 hours ago [-]
another is "Sleep With Me" by Dearest Scooter which are nonsensical steam of consciousness monologues.
alex1138 6 hours ago [-]
Am I the only one that can't fall asleep to music? I need human voice rhythms, so podcasts, or whatever. The downside is not learning anything from the podcast because I'm asleep and it works its way into dreams sporadically
__MatrixMan__ 5 hours ago [-]
I can't fall asleep to either. I can tolerate noise, like a thunderstorm, but even construction sounds are interesting enough to keep me up with questions like: "I wonder what tool makes that sound."
BlaDeKke 5 hours ago [-]
The sound of a fan does it for me. Not the motor sound perse, but the blades of a powerful big fan cutting the wind. I’m addicted to it.
polus 44 minutes ago [-]
[dead]
5 hours ago [-]
chriscjcj 5 hours ago [-]
"Do you lay awake wondering what FCC compliance entails?"
I guessing FCC compliance doesn't involve knowing the difference between lay and lie. Or maybe they fell asleep in English class. X-p
dylan604 4 hours ago [-]
Tell me you're not a Texan without telling me you're not a Texan.
zippyman55 4 hours ago [-]
I’d tell you what state I am from but do not want to embarrass you.
msla 4 hours ago [-]
> knowing the difference between lay and lie.
I'm guessing you're not a linguist, and have no knowledge of academic linguistics.
defrost 4 hours ago [-]
Please consider imparting information rather than zero content snark.
Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
To be fair the original commenter was incredibly snarky.
defrost 2 hours ago [-]
I had a similar thought and drew a distinction between snark about lines in the submitted article and snark directed at a fellow HN commenter.
Both are discouraged, neither is great, the second following piling on and getting personal example is arguably worse.
The disappointing part (for myself at least) was a failure to be explicit in how they felt the lay / lie usage should go and in what English speaking domains the preferred usages are.
The problem with that podcast is that most of their selections are genuinely interesting - I even listened to them on long drives (e.g. "Origin of Species"). Even something I thought would boring like or "Farm Engines and how to Run" them turned out to be fascinating.
This one, on the other hand, seems to be genuinely boring. I couldn't get past the intro.
He has a number of tricks he uses from a monoto delivery, to meandering stories where the narrative constantly interrupts itself with. So you can’t really “follow along”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_with_Me_(podcast)
Or if it is - why e.g. automated voices reading nyt articles are so bad?
For some reason, my brain follows it, and I fall asleep much faster. It works way better for me than box breathing or most other sleep tricks I've seen. Sharing in case someone else finds this useful.
The oldest is Radio 4, the BBC's national spoken word radio station (there's also Radio 5 which focuses on sport and news, Radio 4 is more a mixture of comedy, arts, culture and news).
Late at night (UK time), there are programmes that were for many years my soundtrack to getting to sleep - news, a short programme (on Sunday it's a recording of some church bells from some church somewhere in the UK countryside - it changes each week), followed by the shipping forecast. The service "signs off" with the national anthem before switching over to the BBC World Service at around 1am through until 6am when it switches back to the iconic Today programme.
The shipping forecast though - that's the gold. If you've never listened to it before, try and find a recording. As an island nation with a decimated but still strong fishing trawler fleet, it's framed as essential safety information, but in truth its just an iconic, beautiful, ever-changing structured poem, read on national radio several times a day. It is perfect for helping calm the mind, it's a weighted blanket for the brain.
Somebody, somewhere realised that a continuity announcer slowly rattling through the shipping forecast was so good at putting over-active minds to sleep that they created a podcast - "The Sleeping Forecast" - which is a mix of slow/ambient music with old shipping forecasts read over them. I love it, but my partner finds it "weird" so I can't listen to it without wearing headphones late at night.
This, somehow, then led to the realisation that Radio 3 (the national classical music station in the UK), could provide more of the same. Cue other programs - Sleep Tracks, Night Tracks - where there is a composition of calming, quieting music, mostly rooted in classical tradition but overall just very ambient and calm.
And then the final inevitable chapter: in the world of DAB radio and digital platforms (including the BBC Sounds app that seemed absurd at its inception but now slowly becoming loved), the BBC realised they could cheaply put together a whole new station: BBC Radio 3 Unwind (or "3U" for short).
All of this being the BBC, there are no ads. No pledge drives. 3 Unwind has no news programming. It's my new go to when anxiety hits.
The BBC isn't perfect, the funding model needs to evolve, but while we have this - just in case one day we don't - do try and enjoy this stuff if you can.
What a great idea, I feel li... zzz
1. https://youtu.be/UW_M7hotSlk
2. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGAnmvB9m7zOBVCZBUUmSinFV...
3. https://youtu.be/TjZBTDzGeGg
Though sometimes it is very interesting and might delay sleep a bit
I have been thinking a lot through the years about the choice between joirnalistic ethics and journalistic activism in the ranks of organizations like NPR. This is an extremely important topic because today's media are as impactful politically as the "regular" political process.
My point is, such discussion would not make me sleepy, the opposite would happen.
They've seemed to configure Cloudfront to block access from Singapore.
What’s even more frustrating is when it happens without any explanation in mobile apps via breaking a few specific APIs.
Just yesterday I was struggling with a bank/fintech that would send me through KYC every time I’d open the app from abroad as an existing user, which would then hang forever. Using a US VPN, everything would work normally. Good thing fraudsters don’t have access to US VPNs…
Like if you hear "calm river", imagine that. If you hear "heavy rain over a tree", imagine that.
In short → Close your eyes, listen & imagine.
Thank you very much.
So tired of the cloudflare shit.
It’s really annoying, but even if Cloudflare/AWS etc. offer a big “block all access from abroad/evil GDPR abroad/…”, I feel like the site owner is still the one to blame for pressing it.
It has a decent sleepy background vibe to it too. Reminds me of Joe Perra Talks You To Sleep (Adult Swim). I dig it!
there's all sorts of stuff that is dry but interesting that I'd like to plow through over time, a few paragraphs a day would suit me fine
I guessing FCC compliance doesn't involve knowing the difference between lay and lie. Or maybe they fell asleep in English class. X-p
I'm guessing you're not a linguist, and have no knowledge of academic linguistics.
Both are discouraged, neither is great, the second following piling on and getting personal example is arguably worse.
The disappointing part (for myself at least) was a failure to be explicit in how they felt the lay / lie usage should go and in what English speaking domains the preferred usages are.