I tried to sleep with a podcast

Soup dreams, Neil Gaiman's bread, soothing cereal, dead malls, being alone, traveling grief, bakineering, wilderness meditations

I’m someone who falls asleep to TV shows all the time. Like I purposely put on a show at night to fall asleep to. Yes, Ted Lasso has played into my subconscious many times. But sometimes Ted Lasso is also the reason I can’t fall asleep… because I watch the new episodes as soon as they’re released at 10pm and I’m way too amped up after.

So, I decided to enlist some sleep podcasts to help. I’ve never tried them before and thought this would be an interesting experiment!

The first episode I tried was Soup from Drifting Off with Joe Pera. I quickly discovered an episode about soup might not be the cure to putting me to sleep. Not that I’m soup’s biggest fan, but it is still a food themed episode! How can I not be dialed in? I loved the history and the little food prep ASMR. And don’t even get me started about the soup moment from a movie. Food and movie stuff? Come on. I’m wide awake! This is too beautiful to sleep to.

I did eventually fall asleep by the end of the soup episode, which I’m almost disappointed about because I want to know what I missed! But I think Spotify kept autoplaying more episodes (not from Drifting Off)… and in my dreams they were other, non-existent sleep shows that I really enjoyed! I woke up wanting to tell you about them! I checked my history and I know what episodes they were, but boy did my subconscious spin them into something else. Reader, it was not a restful sleep. Now I’m forever wondering about the sleep shows I created in my dreams.

Then I tried sleeping with Neil Gaiman. Or rather, Neil Gaiman’s episode of Sleeping with Celebrities. A friend had mentioned this show to me and Lauren Passell also gave it a recommendation in Podcast the Newsletter. But Neil is talking about live culture food preparation which leads to making bagels! Are you kidding? I wanted to hear all about his bagels. But honestly, his soft, slow, and calming voice put me to sleep before he got to the bagels. Disappointing… but good.

Although, at this point I had a serious technical problem to deal with. Once that episode was done, yet again Spotify kept playing more (unrelated) episodes and disrupted my sleep all night until I turned it off. Reader, it was not a restful sleep. Next, I needed to put an episode into its own playlist so there would be nothing to play next… hopefully.

Finally, I turned to cereal. I love cereal. And I’m not hyperbolizing when I say I love froot loops. They give me Dani Rojas levels of joy (see earlier gif). So The Empty Bowl sounded like a great time to me! This one has the calming music that you’d expect but the pacing and tone of their voices don’t lean into the same slow and soothing styles of the other shows. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for me! I’ve fallen asleep to Grey’s Anatomy for months at a time and been mostly fine. I’m into the expert insights from the cereal world and also want to go buy more cereal. And this time I put two episodes into a playlist, so there were no other episodes playing all night long. I think with this playlist strategy, I could try a good mix of all three shows!

Maybe I need some non-food related sleep podcasts? And definitely some that aren’t hosted by men. The experiment will continue and I welcome suggestions! If you’re currently sleeping with any podcasts, I’d love to hear what’s working for you. Now onto the podcasts for when you’re awake!

This week’s podstack

The Secret Life of Canada - Dead Malls

I love me some archival clips and the old TV and radio ads for malls in this episode were a perfect compliment to the fascinating history. You get major 99% Invisible vibes from this episode and I’m so here for it! Hearing Leah and Falen talk about old malls across Canada, including one with a curse, was the kind of entertaining history lesson I love. How did malls come to be and how did the growth of the suburbs impact them? Why are they just not what they used to be? Turns out it’s the result of a decline that actually started in the 90s, after the 80s were the true peak. There’s so much nostalgia wrapped up in these spaces, but why does it make us sad to see them change and decline? I’m living for all the nostalgic references and picturing the way my hometown’s mall used to look, which is extremely different from now. Someone take me to an old mall, new ones just don’t hit the same. Between this episode, and Matt Gourley’s new Mall Walkin’ series, I’m on a real mall kick.

Radiolab - Alone Enough

This beautiful episode of Radiolab addresses the question: do we need people we love around us to get through hard times? After going through cancer treatment by herself during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns, Cat Jaffee was pretty convinced that you can do most anything alone. Until she was proven wrong. Through the story of competitive bike packing, we learn firsthand how even just seeing someone you love can give you a boost to keep going (and finish the race). It’s so powerful that it’s considered a competitive advantage in this sport and against the rules. And there’s science to back it up! This is such an inspiring and surprisingly insightful look at how important support is.

Unpacked by AFAR - How Travel Can Help Us Grieve

As Erin Hynes points out, travel is a very literal form of escapism. But there’s one thing that it can be hard to escape from no matter how many miles you go – grief. Unpacked is all about unpacking complicated questions around travel. In this special takeover, Erin, co-host of Alpaca My Bags, shares her own experiences of grief and travel, speaks with a psychologist about this escapism, and a fellow traveller. It’s an experience that has made her so much more aware of other forms of grief, how we actually process grief, and carrying those losses wherever we go. If you like her thoughts about our relationship to grief, I highly recommend also checking out Grief, Collected from The Mash-Up Americans, because that’s exactly what they explore in the series. Near, far, wherever you are, grief goes with you, even if many of us are just hoping this emotional baggage gets lost at the airport. (transcript)

Create the Future - The Future of Cakes & Bakineering

Heck yes! Let’s appreciate the engineering that’s hidden in the act of baking! Using baking as an example is a cool way to appreciate the creativity that exists in all kinds of engineering and that’s what this episode aims to highlight. Host Roma Agrawal is joined by Andrew Smyth, an aerospace engineer who reached the final of The Great British Bake Off in 2016. Because of this episode I now have a new favourite word: bakineering. It’s all about explaining engineering in a way that people can understand using baking as a metaphor and using engineering to make baked goods beyond where they’ve ever been! I love how their discussion recognized that having a variety of skills, instead of a super focused specialization, can bring important creative thinking to many jobs. And our kitchens are full of engineering masterpieces that making cooking and baking so much better! They even leave the studio, to go into the kitchen and explain the science behind a Baked Alaska, because it actually shares similarities to the insulation found in space shuttles. Now I think I need to watch Baking Impossible, because the other guest on the show, Sara Schonour, made it sound like such a blast! They basically paired up engineers and bakers to complete some unique challenges.

Terra Firma - A Silvery Cold (Rawah Wilderness, Colorado)

If you’ve ever felt like you need an immediate escape from where you are and some time with nature, I think Terra Firma can help you feel better until you can get out to nature. The rich soundscape transports you elsewhere, with winds, birds chirping, and water running. I could feel myself detaching from the present and relaxing into the Colorado wilderness. Plus, the episodes are ten minutes or less, so they’re great to relax and reset your mind if you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, podcasts by poets just hit different. CMarie Fuhrman is the perfect host to capture the beauty and feeling of the different locations in each episode. With the sounds and script, it feels almost meditative with a lot of introspection. (transcript)

More sweet treats

• A wonderful web of women-hosted podcasts

• Sound can affect your taste buds?!

• Ted Lasso takes over the White House

• The most hilarious podcast trailer

Thank you for reading! If you listened to something this week that made your heart sing, your imagination wander, or your brain ponder, I’d love to hear about it!