There are many reasons why parents tell their children before they go to sleep in the eveningRead stories. First of all, it helps them build a larger vocabulary. Italso promotes creativityand helps to build a strong bond between the parents and the child. But this evening routine also – and this is no surprise – helps the child fall asleep comfortably.
“Reading before bed also provides onePoint of concentrationand distraction, away from the activities and frustrations of the day, which outweighs the body's tiredness and brings the child closer to sleep,” write the experts at Read Brightly. “Even for small babies, this point of concentration helps them filter out the stimuli of the world around them and relax.”
Many leading health experts now say thatListening to bedtime stories can do wonders for adults too. “Bedtime stories can help,stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering heart rate and blood pressure – all things that help us sleep,” says Puja Uppal, MD, a doctor in Michigan. The parasympathetic nervous system is one of the three components of the autonomic nervous system and is used for regeneration.
Mehmet Oz, doctor of cardiology who is known as Dr. Oz is known, Dr. Uppal too. “For adults they canStories as relief for our busy brainsserve and direct our attention to something peaceful and serene,” he said.
There are certainly plenty of adults who could use this sleep hack.According to a Statista surveyOne in five Germans says they don't get enough sleep. This could have serious health consequences. Lack of sleep has been linked to a poor immune system, poor concentration, weight gain and an increased risk of illness and early death.
In the meantime we are enjoying ourselvesPodcasts with bedtime storiesincreasingly popular. A podcast called “Sleep With Me,” launched by Drew Ackerman in 2013, now has around 3 million listeners per month. In his podcast, Ackerman doesn't speak in a soothing voice while water splashes in the background. Rather, he just triesto be as boring as possible, and tells nonsensical stories with lots of meandering asides that intentionally make no sense at all. The idea is that the listener is only partially engaged, only the tiniest bit invested in the story.
“The goal is to create a show where the listener feels like it's okay not to listen to me, but that they can listen to me any time they feel the need to,” Ackerman recently explained. "It's a delicate balance of maintaining just enough interest that you feel like you're not thinking about what's keeping you awake, but also not being so interesting that you want to stay awake because of it."
If you have trouble falling asleep, it's worth finding a bedtime story for adultstry this trick. And for more ways to sleep better, check out our articles“Fall asleep quickly – tips, home remedies and rules for sleep hygiene”and "Affirmations before falling asleep: 30 positive and calming thoughts“.
