Hi fiction lover! It pains me to think about how many of us suffer from insomnia. In fact, I was talking with a friend recently, who finds it hard to settle down at night. No matter what she does, she can’t fall asleep. Perhaps our creative brains are working too hard! When I turned seventeen, I also struggled with insomnia for the first time. And during the first years of the COVID pandemic, I also found it hard to sleep. Perhaps it was the lack of movement throughout the day, but I found myself lying down and watching the sunrise. It’s such a painful feeling to know that you missed a night of sleep. But I have an insomnia hack of sorts, and that’s listening to a calming audiobook.
A few years ago, I was lying in bed and wondered about ways I could calm myself down. During this time, I rediscovered StacyPlays. If you don’t know, StacyPlays (Stacy Hinojosa) makes Minecraft videos on YouTube, including various creative series such as Dogcraft and Bookcraft. During my high school days, I became addicted to watching her Minecraft adventures. Her exploring virtual block worlds was strangely calming after a long day at school.
Inspired by her Dogcraft series, Stacy also published a book series called Wild Rescuers, along with her latest addition to the world, Rescue Tails. In fact, during my insomnia era, I looked up her very first book, Wild Rescuers: Guardians of the Taiga, which introduces the character Stacy, who was raised by a pack of wolves. This fantasy adventure charmed me from the get-go, and it was a pleasant surprise to find that StacyPlays herself narrates the audiobook.
The fictional Stacy converges with the real one, and the result is an experience reminiscent of the early days of StacyPlays’ Minecraft adventures. Her voice is what calmed me down during the worst of my insomnia. And even though Wild Rescuers includes some action-packed quests, it still was relaxing enough to listen to at bedtime. You have to give it a try, especially with audio books becoming easier to find.
With Spotify recently adding 15 hours of audiobook playtime per month for premium users, this hack is becoming more accessible. And even if you don’t have a Spotify subscription, you can still do it! I highly recommend the app Libby for free audiobooks. As long as you own a library card, you can borrow them from your local library’s online catalog.
Of course, listening to Wild Rescuers or any other book isn’t going to immediately cure insomnia, but in my experience it does help during the winding down part of the night, and just trying to get relaxed. I highly recommend checking out StacyPlays’ audiobooks, or any other one that you think will relax you.
The only downside is that you won’t be able to recall the plot if you do end up falling asleep. However, both Spotify and Libby have a sleep timer, which you can set for the book to automatically turn off after a certain time. This is incredibly useful for those who want to keep up with the story. All you have to do is rewind the book until you get to the part you remember.
Have you tried this insomnia hack? Perhaps you fell asleep to an audiobook before? If so, which one was it? I highly recommend you to try using a fictional world to bring you into your own dream world. Check out my blog for more posts like this one.
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