Sign up for CNN’s SLEEP, BUT BETTER newsletter Acton voices the stories in a London recording studio, with a director listening remotely and giving her guidance. “As the story progresses, you wind down, and you slow down,” says Anna Acton, an actress who has narrated more than a dozen stories for Calm. The same principle applies to how the stories are told. But sleep stories, in Advansun’s words, are more of “a gentle downward slope.” And at the end, the conflict is resolved. The main character or characters chart a course of action. A conflict is introduced or a quest begins. Most storytelling has a traditional structure. They employ tricks to help you fall asleep The story ends with Zoe climbing back into bed and … yes, drifting off to sleep. “A kaleidoscope of butterflies is fluttering in a field …” “A flamboyance of flamingos is lounging in a lagoon.,” McConaughey says alliteratively in his soft Texas drawl. The story then drifts into plotless musings on the wonders of the universe and the rhythms of the natural world. One, narrated by Matthew McConaughey, has been streamed more than 11 million times.Ĭalled “Wonder,” it’s about a young girl named Zoe who hears a noise one night at her family’s lake house and creeps outside to find her grandpa gazing up at the stars. You can nod off to “Game of Thrones’” Jerome Flynn squiring you around Shakespeare’s London, Mandy Moore soaring above the clouds in a hot air balloon or LeVar Burton captaining your personal tour of the solar system. While Headspace employs anonymous narrators, many of Calm’s most popular stories are voiced by celebrities. And we’re drifting off to that comforting voice.”Ĭhris Advansun, head of sleep stories for Calm, the wellness app.
“I think what a sleep story is doing on a very subconscious level is … replicating that experience that many of us had of being a kid and having a loved one, who we trust so much, tuck us in at night, and read a story. “There aren’t high stakes, there aren’t big revelations … they’re very gentle stories, and they just gradually wind down and guide the listener off to sleep,” says Calm’s Advansun. Some have ambient sound effects, such as chirping crickets or the gentle crackling of a campfire. A typical story is filled with soothing sensory details – a brush of breeze, the faraway call of a loon, the musty smell of old books – that place the listener in a setting without overstimulating them. The stories unfold in hushed, intimate tones, almost as if the narrator is whispering in your ear. Most sleep stories take the listener to another world – Iceland, a remote lighthouse, the African savanna – where, in the story at least, absolutely nothing dramatic happens. Headspace also reported a surge in usage over the past year. The app has 4 million paid subscribers and has seen downloads double during the pandemic, a Calm spokesperson says. from "Wonder," narrated by Matthew McConaughey, on Calm
Clouds are converging and clearing, storms looming and dispersing, temperatures heating and cooling… At at once, it is both autumn and spring, day and night, dawn and dusk. Events unfolding at every reach and depth of this planet. So as we relax on this November night, a beautiful balance of things are happening. Headspace followed two years later with their version, called sleepcasts. In 2016 staffers at Calm noticed a spike in usage at night and realized their subscribers were using the app to wind down at bedtime. Listeners typically pay monthly or annual membership fees to access their content. Here’s how sleep stories are made – and why some people say they help steer them toward slumber.Ĭalm and Headspace, leaders in the increasingly crowded field of mindfulness apps, both began by offering guided meditations, breathing exercises and so on. Successful sleep-story writers, he says, must “set aside all the tools that you’re used to working with – conflict, tension, antagonism, revelation, twists and turns – all of these things that are so foundational to traditional storytelling.” “Writers that we hire underestimate how difficult that is,” says Chris Advansun, Calm’s Head of Sleep Stories. If it’s too interesting, they won’t fall asleep. If a story is too dull, listeners won’t forget their troubles. Listeners tuck themselves into bed, hit play on a story and likely surrender to sleep before the tale is over.īut writing one is a tricky balancing act.
Such stories – aural hits of Ambien – appear on Calm, Headspace and other wellness apps. Actor Idris Elba narrates a sleep story about the African country of Lesotho.
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