I have had insomnia most of my life and found out that falling asleep listening to something as opposed to white noise really helps the anxiety I feel leading up to and falling asleep. I ended up buying a sleep mask with headphones after my wife was being woken up/kept awake by my phone on my nightstand. I can no longer sleep without this thing, kinda like a kid with their stuffed animal lol.
I am slowly running out of my normal stuff after repeated listening over the last 3 years. Just looking for some suggestions of stuff to fall asleep too.
Normally, I am listening to some competitive Pokémon analyses/videos (JimothyCool, FSG, BKC, anything covering Smogon metas), lore videos covering long running game series (mainly just WoW), comic book analysis (ComicTropes, Owen likes comics, strange brain parts, merry marvelite) and now some “sleep story” based channels (harder to find non-ai junk, but ive been enjoying Good Knight Sleep for their batman stories/call in radio and some mystery stories).
Sorry if that was too much for an example of what ive been listening to, but I would love to find some new things to throw into the rotation.
I do, it also greatly helps with my work based anxieties related to next day woes. I find it also helps me relax and sleep when dealing with my chronic migraines to be able to listen, and in a way see, with my ears only since I get severe occular issues with them.
I pretty exclusively listen to video game lps, especially on migraine days, as I find comfort in knowing the game that is being played so well I dont feel the urge to look.
If that sounds up your alley there are a few creators I can recommend, all of which do not raise their voices, shout in surprise, or have sharp jumps in audio levels. They all balance their audio very very well.
Rhadamant: Narrative driven stories in a variety of games with a large focus on Rimworld. He does a very good job of explaining everything so you really can “watch” without seeing and fall asleep comfortably listening to a story. My favorite was the OG wendigo series personally but if you don’t know Rimworld that may be heavy. Life on the Rim is tough.
Halfman: Very different here but his rags to riches series on Tarkov feels like listening to a survival novel set in a warzone.
Aavak: Calm and collected every time with a very soothing tone. Unlike the others has a wider back catalogue of games so may be more options to grab your interest.
The Black Pants Legion - TexTalksBattletech: Lore videos on Battletech (big tabletop mech war set in an alternate timeline) super cool stuff. Lots to dig into.
TheAshHeritor: I started with the narrative lets plays of Age of Wonders because I was playing it in a similar way. The creator is an author for Warhammer and it really shows in the way they commentate. There is a current series running on Rogue Trader as well that is quite good.
Here’s hoping you find some joy and, most importantly, some sleep.