The Slumber Studios blog
Gentle guides to falling asleep — what to listen to, why it works, and how we make it.
The sleepy girl mocktail: does tart cherry juice work?
Tart cherry juice, magnesium, and fizzy water. Two of the three ingredients have trials behind them, and both are smaller than the recipe's reputation.
Read more
Does sleep meditation actually work? What the trials found
Meditation is the most-studied thing on the bedtime relaxation list, and the results are far more equivocal than the apps selling it will tell you.
Read more
White, pink, and brown noise: what the colors actually mean
What the noise colors are, what the research really says about them, and how to pick yours, including the truth about brown noise.
Read more
Sleeping with sound: the complete guide
What sound can and can't do at bedtime, graded against the research, with a pointer to the right sound for your particular problem.
Read more
Magnesium for sleep: what three small trials found
The supplement aisle's favorite sleep aid rests on three randomized trials in 151 people, all at moderate-to-high risk of bias. Here's what they add up to.
Read more
Breathing exercises for sleep: what's tested and what's not
Slow breathing does real, measurable things to your nervous system. Whether any particular pattern beats a convincing placebo is a much harder question.
Read more
Fan noise for sleep: why it works, and how to take it anywhere
If you can't sleep without a fan, you're not imagining it: there are solid reasons steady fan noise works so well. Here's the why, and how to bring yours on every trip.
Read more
The warm bath trick: the best-evidenced thing nobody talks about
A meta-analysis of 17 studies found a specific temperature and a specific window before bed. It's free, it takes ten minutes, and almost nobody gets the timing right.
Read more
Progressive muscle relaxation: the sleep technique with the best numbers
A 2026 meta-analysis of 31 trials found a bigger sleep effect for tensing and releasing muscles than for bedtime music. Then there's the heterogeneity problem.
Read more
Does white noise help babies sleep? What the research says
The famous newborn study, what it did and didn't show, and the volume and placement guidance every parent using a sound machine should know.
Read more
Do sleep stories actually work? What the research says
We make sleep stories, so read us skeptically. Here's every study we could find, including the trial where wordless ambient audio did just as well.
Read more
Relaxation techniques for sleep, ranked by the evidence
Breathing, muscle relaxation, imagery, meditation, yoga nidra, hypnosis, and more: ten bedtime techniques, sorted by how much research stands behind them.
Read more
Sleepmaxxing: which parts work, which are risky, which are theater
The trend has produced one technique with a meta-analysis, one with an asphyxiation warning, and a lot of expensive theater. A guide to sorting them.
Read more
Get Sleepy: where to start with 1,100+ episodes
New to Get Sleepy, or overwhelmed by the back catalog? A friendly guide to finding your first (or next) perfect episode, by mood.
Read more
The best podcasts to fall asleep to
What makes a podcast good for sleep, and seven shows to try tonight, from story-led favorites to pure sound.
Read more
Why history is the perfect thing to fall asleep to
There's a reason 'history for sleep' became a whole genre: the past is fascinating, finished, and completely unable to worry you.
Read more
The best audiobooks to fall asleep to
Why some books put you to sleep better than others, plus eight classics, read slowly and softly, to start with tonight.
Read more