Want to Hear Some Great Bedtime Stories? Look in These Five Places!

Right now, it's pretty much common knowledge that reading bedtime stories to children is good for them and for you. Of course, you should make sure you're reading stories to your own children, because breaking into strange bedrooms and loudly reading a Curious George book is frowned upon in most civilized nations. What you may not know, though is just how good reading is for grown-ups! A recent study at the University of Sussex showed that reading a story for as little as six minutes a day can reduce stress by as much as 68 percent. That, folks, is an amazing return on a small investment of time and attention.

The problem most of us have is that, no matter how much we may want to read, we only have so many hours in a day and we don't get a lot of time to sit down with a good book. We do, however, have another option. Bedtime stories. Specifically, bedtime stories someone else will read to us thanks to the magic of the internet. There are, quite literally, thousands of podcasts, YouTube channels, and websites from which you can get wonderful stories to put you in the perfect relaxed mindset you need at bedtime. We thought we'd share some interesting story sources with you here. Keep in mind we didn't always run to the most popular places for audio stories, such as the main audiobook stores (such as Audible and Librivox). We decided to point you to places you can get something a bit different from the usual fare, something you might just love and want to share with your friends and family.

Ready? Here we go.

1. Sleep Stories by Calm: You may be familiar with the Calm app, but not quite so familiar with the original stories it has, narrated by some quite-familiar voices. The Calm folks put a few of their stories on a YouTube playlist where you can listen to them for free. Of course, you'll have to pay their subscription fee if you want the full library, but the four stories offered in the playlist are worth hearing more than once. 
2. HorrorBabble: While we're on YouTube, let's wander over to the scary side of town. The folks behind HorrorBabble have built an impressive library of stories from well-known authors, mostly taken from the public domain. You will get a healthy dose of Poe, Lovecraft, Hodgson, and others, but that's not all. They've begun to build a collection of original stories, written by up-and-coming authors and the channel's main narrator, Ian Gordon. 
3. Sleep With Me Podcast: Drew Ackerman used to go to sleep listening to late-night radio comedies, which led him to create his own podcast, full of funny and calming stories. The show, which you can find here, isn't your traditional bedtime story fare, though. Drew rambles through his thoughts on the day, his sleeping issues, television shows or movies he's watched, or different business ideas he's cooked up while trying to get to sleep in a voice that'll remind you of Ben Stein. At some point, he ties everything together in a nice little package, but you'll probably be asleep before he gets there. But why not try?
4. Scare You to Sleep Podcast: I found this show while looking for solid scary stories made just for bedtime. The stories can be uneven at times, as the host pulls in tales from reddit creepypasta boards and original stories written by listeners, but you'll get some top-notch tales here as well. The host, Shelby Scott, has an amazing voice and does fantastic work weaving in sound effects and background noises to immerse you in the story she's telling. It might just be your kind of thing! 
5. The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio: Do you like detective stories? Great! This show will be your nighttime slumber-maker. Host Adam Graham presents the adventures and exploits of characters like Boston Blackie and Joe Friday in stories guaranteed to pull you in and make you forget the worries and cares of the day. The only issue you may have is getting so engrossed in the stories that you won't want to sleep right away!

What do you think? If you like these, let us know. Also, if you have a favorite place for bedtime listening, share that with us in the comments. We'd love to hear from you! We'd also love for you to check out our pillow, which lets you listen to whatever story you want in cozy and comfortable privacy thanks to our Night Owl speakers!

(Photo Credit: Ramdlon on Pixabay)

Can Music Make Bedtime Better for a Child with Autism? We Think So!

According to the Center for Disease Control, roughly 1 out of every 59 children has been identified Autism Spectrum Disorder. The disorder, often simply shortened to "autism", is not a single condition, but a spectrum of several different types, which can be severe enough to require constant care and attention. Autism indicators usually show themselves by the time a child is 2-3 years old, which presents a number of unique challenges to parents.

One of the most difficult is getting a child to sleep on time and ensuring he or she can rest well when they do sleep. Early results of a recent Stanford University study show that children with autism take longer to fall into REM sleep and spend less time there than other children. The study also suggests that autistic children are more likely to experience sleep apnea, which will wake them up several times as they have trouble breathing. But the sleep-related problems begin before the sleep actually starts. According to a researcher working in Australia, insomnia is a huge problem.

In the 1990s, Australian psychologist Amanda Richdale found that 44 to 83 percent of children on the spectrum have some kind of difficulty with slumber, based on parent reports. Since then, a growing number of studies using increasingly sophisticated objective methods — including video recordings and FitBit-like wristwatches that track movements during sleep — have confirmed the high prevalence of sleep disruptions in this population.
What they’ve found is that children on the spectrum most commonly struggle with insomnia that delays the onset of sleep. They also get less rest overall than do typically developing children, and frequently awaken during the wee hours, roiling the household. “I still remember the mother of a 19-year-old telling me that her daughter would wake for long periods of time at night, just lying in bed singing to herself,” says Richdale, associate professor of psychology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

So what is a parent of a child with autism to do? As it turns out, there are ways to help. The important things to remember is that bedtime routines matter. A lot. Children with autism generally respond well to predictable structure -- things like going to bed the same time every night and having the same bedtime "rituals" (having a story read to them, getting into their pajamas, closing the curtains and turning off the lights, making the room dark and calm).  "Calm" is the watchword. Just as adults need that time of "winding down" that makes sleep come more easily, children on the spectrum need a definite period of winding down, with minimal distractions and a focus on dark and soothing and quiet.

One of the more helpful tools to get there is quiet music or ambient "nature" sounds and there is, at least, anecdotal evidence that using either one can be a real help for parents of autistic children. Let me share one such story. A few months ago, we at My Butterfly Pillow got a message from a customer. She had given a pillow to one of her sons, who is autistic, so he could listen to soothing rain sounds through the built-in Night Owl Speakers. He fell in love with his new pillow. In fact, he told his Mom he couldn't wait for bedtime now so he could drift off to sleep while listening to the rain.

We don't yet have solid science that says listening to quiet music will help your child sleep better. As with anything, you have to experiment until you find what works for you and your child. We do know this: soothing music (most autism and sleep research organizations recommend soft classical music with a regular beat and moderate dynamic changes) or ambient nature sounds do work very well with quite a few people. There are literally dozens of smartphone apps and hundreds of playlists on streaming music services dedicated to those two things. Why are they there? To help people calm their minds so they can sleep. A child with autism who is having trouble sleeping may just benefit from the same thing that benefits everyone else. In fact, you may find it benefits them more, as it might give them a solid anchor on which to focus. Remember, focus is a big deal. So is calm.

Bedtime music can give both. It's worth a try.

(Photo Credit: pettycon on Pixabay)

Good Night; Sleep Tight; Get Your Bedtime Playlist Right!

In his 1697 play The Mourning Bride, William Congreve wrote "Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak." But music has one more charm -- the charm to help you sleep.

According to a recent analysis of several sleep studies, listening to music as you go to sleep "caused significant improvements in sleep quality". The benefits take time to work -- the two studies that showed little to no improvement lasted less than three weeks -- but they do exist. The studies did have some holes in how they were designed, which means they were not conclusive. That is, you can't say "science says sleeping with music will cure all your ills". The best we can say is "listening to music as you sleep helps you sleep better, though how much better or what types of improvements you see can vary", which isn't bad. What's more, none of the studies showed that music made sleep worse. So, according to the analysis, music can help, won't hurt, and is, as this 2008 study concluded, "safe, easy, and cheap".

How, though, do you pick the right music? Should you use headphones, earbuds, or a speaker? Where do you get the music? Hey, I'm glad you asked all those questions! As it turns out, we here at MyButterflyPillow love listening to music as we sleep (and steaming videos and lectures and audiobooks too, but let's just stick to music for now). We have a couple of tips for listening to music as you drift off to dreamland. Let's go!

1. Speakers are better than earbuds or headphones. You know how you move around as you sleep? Try that with a set of headphones on or a pair of earbuds stuck in your ears. If you winced, well, join the club. You're far better off connecting to a speaker, either directly or through a Bluetooth connection. Our Smarter Pillow comes with speakers that will let you listen to whatever you like without disturbing anyone sleeping next to you. Cool, right? 
2. Pick the music you like. This is usually where a web site suggests you listen to classical music or soothing ambient sounds. That's fine if you like those things. What if classical music drives you up the wall? What if listening to rain sounds makes you...antsy? If you listen to music, listen to music you like. That's where you'll find relaxation. However, you should know that you'll get your best results from choosing music with a tempo that most closely matches the average human resting heart rate (60 to 80 beats per minute). Maybe start with the music of Ed Sheeran or anyone else on this Spotify playlist. 
3. Be patient. The analysis earlier in this article suggests it can take more than three weeks to see the benefits of bedtime tunes. Don't sweat it if you don't see immediate improvement. Relax. Enjoy the good music. Remember that good sleep begins with comfort and relaxation. You won't get either one if you're worried about your inability to relax and be comfortable. Don't put that stress on yourself! Just lie back, hit the "play" button, and sleep tight. 

(Photo Credit: minka2507 on Pixabay)

Head Tingles and Quiet Whispers: A Quick Guide to ASMR

You are getting sleepy. Sleeeeeeeeepy.
Oh, and tingly too. Tinglyyyyyy. *crackle*

Very recently, you may have seen a beer commercial called "The Pure Experience", in which sound plays a huge role. In it, Zoë Kravitz pours a beer in near-silence, whispers into microphones set on either side of her table, and taps her fingernails against the bottle. The very intimate and "close" experience is designed to cause a very particular reaction.

When you saw it, did you get a little pleasant tingle along your scalp that ran down your spine? If so, congratulations! You just experienced something called autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR for short. That tingle was an involuntary response your body has to sensory input from the outside. You may have had a similar sensation while getting your hair cut or listening to someone leaf through a book or magazine. You may have even experiences a reaction while watching Bob Ross paint his happy little trees. Ross' show, in fact, was one of the first places people began to notice their reactions. It wasn't until they could gather on the internet to talk about what they were experiencing that people began to connect the sensory inputs to the reactions and found that they weren't rare nor were they accidental. Something for sure was happening to people, though what that is (as the song goes) ain't exactly clear.

ASMR got its name in 2010, which gives you a pretty good idea about how little time scientists have had to study what it's all about. What we do know is that ASMR is one of those things that you either feel or you don't. Lots of people do. Some people have an adverse reaction. Some people just wonder what all the whispering and microphone brushing is about. We also know that the most popular way to stimulate the response is through videos, namely videos on YouTube. One of the more popular ASMR channels is ASMR Darling, who has over 2 million subscribers and reportedly earns a thousand dollars a day in advertising. Most popular ASMR channels belong to women, usually women with accents who split their videos between whispering soothing scenes and making ambient sounds with their fingers, brushes, and crumpled paper. You can also find plenty of ASMR videos that have nothing but nature sounds as well or environmental noises like typewriters or people reading books quietly, as if you were sitting in a library.  

It's enough to make you nod off right now, isn't it? And that's really the point. Most folks who have a positive reaction to ASMR "triggers" feel more relaxed after they experience that tingly sensation. Some even report nodding off before they even know what's happening.

Now, if only you could find a way to get those sounds quietly into your ears while you were comfortable in bed, possibly with Night Owl Speakers™. That would be pretty handy, wouldn't it? Pretty handy indeed.

This is not the optimal ASMR setup.
Try something softer, with fewer wires.

(Photo Credits: PublicDomainPictures and LOC on Pixabay)