Need Relaxation Tips for Sleep? Try Audiobooks—with a Twist.

If you’re anything like me, you experience a number of things that stand between you and a good night’s sleep, ranging from the completely random to the hauntingly obscure. Sometimes the culprit for being awake is obvious, including not being able to pull my eyes away from someone ranking Crumbl cookie flavors on YouTube. Other times, I’m on the cusp of drifting off when a sinister reel of embarrassing moments pops into my head. Like the time my bathing suit strap malfunctioned at the beach or I accidentally shattered a glass bottle in the middle of a restaurant. The resulting cringe acts like a shot of espresso and I’m suddenly fully awake at midnight.

I’ve tried a dozen other relaxation tips for sleep, including free guided meditations that I found online. But they often feel forced—as if the narrators were putting on the fake hypnotist, “You are getting verrrry sleepy” voice. Plus, the one time I dozed off in the middle of a meditation video, I practically jumped out of bed 20 minutes later to the loudest ad I’ve ever heard.

The One Relaxation Tip for Sleep That Worked

One night not long ago, in an effort to binge-listen to a novel I had to finish before my book club the next day, I opened Audible and placed my phone within reach. I usually listen to audiobooks while I’m working, driving, or cleaning. But after a few minutes of listening in bed, I was amazed at how much of a vibe it was to be read to and do nothing, as if I were a kid again. I stared peacefully into the abyss as I followed along with The Midnight Library.

I was totally relaxed. But I wasn’t quite on the verge of sleep. Then I recalled a friend telling me that she likes to increase the speed at which the narrator reads an audiobook so she can finish the book more quickly. I had tried the pace she recommended—two times the normal speed—and I felt a pit of anxiety swell at the gibberish-like sounds spouting from my phone. I never listened at that speed again. But lying in bed that night, I had a lightbulb moment to do the exact opposite.

I grabbed my phone and located the speed button at the bottom of the screen. Then I tapped the minus sign until the pace was 0.8x (1.0 is considered “normal” speed). It took a second for my mind to adjust to the molasses-like rhythm of the narration. But my body responded to it almost immediately. It was as if, by adjusting this setting on my app, I was also turning down a dial within me—one that slowed my breath, calmed my thoughts, and released any lingering tension I held in my muscles.

In 15 minutes, I was asleep. Of course, I had to finish the audiobook the next morning before book club. But I’d found a sleep hack that actually worked for me.

Making the Most of This Sleep Hack

As a yoga student for more than a decade, the fact that slowing the audiobook narration helped me fall asleep shouldn’t have surprised me. It’s the exact reason I show up to gentle or yin classes, and why I try to pause a few times every day, release the tension in my jaw, and take deeper breaths. When I’m intentional about the energy I expose myself to—whether that’s fast-paced and breathless or easeful and slow—my body responds. I get out what I put in.

Now, I listen to slowed-down audiobooks almost every night before bed. (I also make sure to utilize the sleep timer function on Audible.) It’s especially useful when I’m sleeping at an AirBnb or hotel. Letting the measured, languid sound of the author’s voice lull me to sleep is a consistently calming ritual I can do anywhere.

As with any sleep hack, this one isn’t foolproof. Once I tried slowing the pace of a murder mystery novel. Despite the soothing narration, I suppose my mind was still registering the disturbing elements of what the narrator was saying and I was fully locked into the suspenseful story. I recommend sticking to stories that are a little more chill. Rom-coms always hit.

It also helps if I listen to stories I’ve already finished; it signals to my mind that I can fully relax when I already know what’s going to happen. (I’ve listened to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s One True Loves narrated by Julia Whelan probably 15 times by now.)

Pressing play on an audiobook is also a way to signal to myself that there’s an easier way of existing in this fast-paced world—at 0.8x speed.